Will the Warriors playstyle cause the NBA big man’s extinction? - LeftyJr80's Blog

LeftyJr80's Blog

Will the Warriors playstyle cause the NBA big man’s extinction?

Posted on June 17, 2015 at 05:31 PM.

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As the NBA finals ended, I’ve noticed the dominance of Lebron James inside/outside game vs Stephen Curry’s 3-point heavy game. Mind you, The Cavs where shorthanded there all-stars in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, so the “what if’s” came to mind. Both teams started with their regular centers and adjustments were later made by going small by the Warriors Draymond Green and Cavs Tristan Thompson at the center position. So, what I’m getting at is the Warriors managed to beat every team in this year’s playoffs and Finals that had an All-star caliber power forward in Anthony Davis, then both an All-star power forward and center Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. An All-star caliber Center in Dwight Howard and finally the best player on the planet Lebron James. You can probably argue the Warriors had a stronger bench, but, I’ve heard from others and media that this is supposed to be a big man’s game and the Warriors will not survive with the outside shot heavy game. What did I miss? The Warriors won the Finals by going small and shooting 3’s. Do you think this will affect how teams will want to draft from now on?

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Comments

# 1 carnalnirvana @ Jun 18

NO

i think they had a smooth run, no real injuries, while every team they faced were banged up. they had a clean run. if they repeat then this convo can be had.

the league will catch up, last year san antonio seemed unstoppable in the finals, a year later 1st round exit.

i think you can win small shooting 3's but small ball can be beaten, its just the match ups...and some luck.

# 2 mrclutch @ Jun 18

Small ball will last until there some big men that can punish teams for that play style. If Hakeem, Shaquille, Robinson or Ewing were still around we would be having a whole other conversation. The real question is will we ever see bigs like that again or are we only going to see "stretch 4's" and 5's for the next decade.

# 3 teebee @ Jun 18

Considering one of the main reasons they got to the FInals this year was their Defense with probably the top Defensive Big Man in the game in Bogut, i would say No.

The further along the playoffs go, the smaller is almost always gets, as far back as 90's hoops. Skill guys just are relied on more and more the bigger the games get so that's all that is happening.

Matchups is all it was and trying to break a strong Cavs game plan that had the Cavs big man immediately trap Curry and leave Bogut alone which just ruined Curry. They got scared, desperate and found a solution that worked and like you do in sports, you dont stop running something if noone can stop it. Game over Cavs!