In their last game before the All-Star break, the Warriors used their 33rd starting lineup of the season: Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Moses Moody, and Brandin Podziemski.
The group helped lead the team to a road win in Houston and earned another start coming out of the break on Friday in Sacramento. After Golden State registered a blowout victory in that game, head coach Steve Kerr said he plans to stick with this starting five despite its lack of size, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“I hope so. Because we’ve had a million different starting lineups this year. It’d be nice to stick with this for the rest of the season,” Kerr said. “I think it’s the best two-way starting group we can put on the floor. You get Moses’ shooting, you get BP’s play-making to go with Steph and Jimmy. Then Draymond and Jimmy at the five and four defensively behind the play. We lack size, but we have a lot of brainpower back there.”
Butler, the tallest player in the lineup at 6’7″, admitted that it’s “definitely” the smallest starting five he has been part of, Slater writes. Still, the Warriors’ big trade-deadline acquisition is confident in the quintet’s ability to make it work.
“I like it,” Butler said. “I do. You’ve just got some feisty individuals out there that’s fighting, scrapping on both sides of the ball, sharing the ball, scoring, getting stops. Small or not, we’re getting it done.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Buddy Hield has started 22 games for Golden State this season, including 12 in a row from January 22 to February 12. He has returned to the second unit following Kerr’s latest lineup change, but the Warriors’ coach said the veteran sharpshooter remains “a huge part of what we’re doing,” according to Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. “The way we’re starting is not a reflection of his play,” Kerr said prior to Friday’s win, in which Hield scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting in 26 minutes off the bench.
- Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, who has been out since January 4 due to a right ankle sprain, participated in his first 5-on-5, full-contact scrimmage on Saturday, according to Kerr (Twitter video link via Slater). While Kuminga appears to be nearing a return, he won’t play today vs. Dallas or on Tuesday vs. Charlotte, Kerr said. The plan is to reevaluate him prior to the five-game road trip that begins on Thursday in Orlando.
- In another story for The San Francisco Chronicle, Gordon notes that Butler’s presence puts Golden State in position to run an efficient offense during the minutes when Curry is off the floor. “It’s huge, just having another number one option out there so when Steph goes off the floor, we still have a number one option that we can play through,” Green said on Friday. “He doesn’t shoot much. … He’s just going to make the right play. He’s going to put guys in position to be successful and the defense has to react to him, or he gets easy buckets.”
- The Warriors are starting to “figure out a good chemistry” with Butler, according to Curry, who praised his new teammate for his underrated passing ability, per Grant Afseth of Athlon Sports.
Draymond is a tiger
Butler is a lion. Lion is a type of tiger
You can’t have 2 tigers on 1 mountain
Greymond and Butler are wolves and wolves work together in packs to accomplish the goal.
Sillivan, lions and tigers may be more powerful, but you’ll never see a wolf perform in a circus.
Couple of other options I’ve mentioned before, but it mostly makes sense as one of their better options; I’d probably go with GP2 over Podz as a starter, for less guys that need the ball in their hands in that lineup, especially playing next to Curry, but this is up there as 1 of their better lineups…I’d also consider starting GP2, AND 1 of Santos or Knox, with Podz and Moody off the bench, or Moody still starting in that lineup, instead of GP2
So Steph, GP2, Jimmy, Santos/Knox, Draymond
Steph, GP2, Moody, Jimmy, Draymond
Steph, Jimmy, Moody, Santos/Knox, Draymond
Couple of other combinations I’d also consider, but I like all of those lineups, in general; I just think they could use another option at the 2/3 off the bench, preferably someone that can guard PGs, and obviously knock down shots
bro. no. no one is starting knox. ever. he played 5 mins of garbage time. silly idea. he isnt an nba-level talent.
the only lineup that matters is the late and close lineup, which should be green-kuminga-butler-moody-steph.
Santos/Knox isn’t saying START KNOX and play him 35 minutes…Santos was first b/c that’s who I was talking about, but they’re similar to each other, and to me its 1 or the other on the roster, if everyone is healthy, and they seemingly intend to play him, so he was mentioned…
A starting lineup doesn’t play for the whole game, which people really still seemingly can’t grasp. Personally I would play it by matchup, but in general, people seem way more hung up on that than the rotations throughout the game, and the matchup on the floor, which is what matters
I can see your point, however you predicting these lineups kind of doesn’t make sense if you are trying to just play matchups? For example I would like to see 2 of TJD/Loon/Post in the same lineup vs an opposing lineup who plays 2 bigs, like the Cavs (best record in league) do. Going matchup on the starting lineup is fine, but Knox has no business being in any important lineup. He’s pure garbagetime, we should not be focusing on him at all.
GP2’s skillset is noticeably worse than everyone else’s and he’s also the most made of glass guy we have. He is old and been injured too much in his career. He provides energy in bursts but its been a mistake playing him long minutes. Podz and Moody have improved with the addition of Jimmy on such a level that you have to have them both in almost all lineups. Eventually Kuminga being added muddies this, but currently, Jimmy/Podz/Moody are cooking extremely well with Steph/Dray.
All Warriors fans: what is their record of the rest of these 25 games:
Hornets, Magic, 76ers, Hornets, Knicks, Nets, Pistons, Blazers, Kings, Knicks, Nuggets, Bucks, Raptors, Hawks, Heat, Pels, Spurs, Grizz, Lakers, Nuggets, Rockets, Suns, Spurs, Blazers, Clippers
I see at least 20 wins in there, which would put GSW at 49-52 wins. That puts them 4-6 range.
Gary, did you see Podzi and Moody connect on that Moody dunk? That’s us on here lol
But for real, Jimmy Butler has instantly turned Podz and Moody into very-good, if not all-star-level players. Holy moly. This is better than the start of the season. Jimmy is the glue that Melton was, but Jimmy is like 3x the player of Melton, so now the roster has been elevated-elevated.
MDJ looks like a genius right now. Built a team in the preseason that started 12-3, weathered massive injuries, swung a key midyear trade and makes the post-deadline team even better than the one that started 12-3. He might be HOF-level front office. GSW title window is not closed, it has never been officially closed, since 2014-present. Slight breaks only, but repeated dominance since 2014 has been the Warriors WayTM. Isn’t it weird how the team who actually wins titles has no cringe catchphrase? “Light years” was mostly internet-driven, people in real life never said it. Yet everyone knows what “The Process” is…The Process of Losing…