When the Warriors put five players expected to be in the playoff rotation on the floor during the regular season, they outscored opponents by 20.9 points per 100 possessions.
No other team even neared that level with five of its own playoff-rotation players.
The second-place Spurs (+13.1 adjusted net rating) were closer to 10th place than first place.
But Golden State’s supremacy obviously took a hit when Stephen Curry got hurt. How do the Warriors rate without him in the rotation?
As I did before the first round, I’ve used nba wowy! to rank Western Conference playoff teams by net rating (offensive rating minus defensive rating), counting only lineups that include five players in the team’s postseason rotation. Both the regular season and first round factored.
I wrote more about the Thunder’s and Spurs’ adjusted ratings yesterday. The East will come after its second-round series are set.
For now, here’s each Western Conference team’s rating, from the regular season adjusted to only lineups that include five players projected to be in the second-round rotation:
Western Conference
2. San Antonio Spurs
- Offensive rating: 110.5 to 110.0
- Defensive rating: 99.4 to 96.1
- Net rating: +11.1 to +13.9
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
- Offensive rating: 113.6 to 117.3
- Defensive rating: 106.0 to 104.6
- Net rating: +7.6 to +12.7
1. Golden State Warriors
- Offensive rating: 114.9 to 119.7 to 109.1
- Defensive rating: 104.1 to 98.8 to 103.8
- Net rating: +10.8 to +20.9 to +5.3
5. Portland Trail Blazers
- Offensive rating: 108.9 to 111.0 to 110.3
- Defensive rating: 108.2 to 107.9 to 107.5
- Net rating: +0.7 to +3.1 to +2.8
Observations:
- By this metric, there’s a clear main event and undercard here – at least if the Spurs and Thunder don’t keep playing like they did last night.
- Golden State obviously takes a big tumble without Curry, but this measure shows the limit of saying the Warriors got outscored by 3.7 points per 100 possessions without Curry during the regular season. Golden State’s other top players – Draymond Green (88%), Klay Thompson (85%), Andrew Bogut (85%), Harrison Barnes (66%) and Andre Iguodala (60%) – played a majority of their minutes with Curry. Put them on the court more in these Curry-less games, and it’ll help.
- With Curry in the rotation (and Ian Clark and Brandon Rush out), the Warriors’ adjusted offensive/defensing/net ratings shoot right back up into the stratosphere: 119.8/98.7/+21.1. Golden State must just holds its ground until Curry returns. This measure suggests the Warriors can against Portland, especially with home-court advantage also in their favor.