The potential long-term absence of Kevin Durant has put the scoring load on shoulders of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, adds defensive and play-making responsibility on Draymond Green and more rebound duties in the centre for the Warriors.
Plenty of voids has been created post Durant injury, for other rosters it is just one player getting but for the Warriors it is like the whole spine of the team is injured. Patrick McCaw has gone from a rookie who was a part of squad rotation to a regular started who guards his teams against league's best talents. Matt Barnes has gone from being unemployed to being one of the much needed players for the NBA title push. This is how the Warriors are missing Kevin Durant.
In the game following Durant's injury, which was at Chicago on Thursday night, McCaw was silent for the first nine minutes taking zero shots and barely touched the ball. But out of a late first quarter timeout, he hit a wing 3 which suddenly seemed to raise his confidence to another level. After that McCaw started having more influence against the Chicago Bulls, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in 29 minutes.
But, as we all know McCaw's size is a big concern for the Warriors, he weighs 185 pounds, who is razor-thin undersized shooting guard making him a lightweight among other small forwards, Bulls tried to post him up with Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler on Thursday and found continued success.
Next up for Warriors is 236-pound Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks on Sunday, then they will up against San Antonio Spurs and 229-pound wing Kawhi Leonard. McCaw is without doubt a smart, quick defender but physical wise he is way short against league's most powerful wing scorers. So it is quite likely that Warriors will field Thompson in their atleast for the start to defend both.
While in Durant's absence, Andre Iguodala is an unquestionable replacement for the Warriors but he is likely to start in his traditional bench role, against the Bulls he was aggressive attacking the rim with vigor and scoring doubt digits for the first time in seven games.
In ideal condition, Iguodala would take rest at this point of time for the playoffs, but the absence of Durant has forced him at the age of 33 to turn back the clock and virtually save Warriors to protect their No 1 seed. They lead over San Antonio in two games with 21 to play.
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