Andre Iguodala Officially Ruled OUT For Game 2

Warriors fans may not want to hear it, but maybe it’s time to consider the fact that we may not see Andre Iguodala for the remainder of this postseason. This now marks his 6th straight missed game as he tries to come back from that bone bruise in his knee. Kerr said it was doubtful during his press conference the other day, and now that it’s confirmed perhaps we should be looking at what this means if Iggy never comes back.

For starters, the Warriors are a team have gone 3-2 in his absence with an overall net rating of +9.4 (109.4 Ortg / 100.0 Drtg). Certainly respectable, especially on the defensive side. This gives you a small sample that says hey maybe the Warriors will be OK. To me it comes down to who you think the Warriors are with Iguodala in the lineup. When you look at the lineup of Curry/Klay/Iggy/Durant/Green a group that played 414 minutes together in the regular season, you see a team that was one of the best offensive lineups the Warriors have with a 124.7 rating, but their defense struggled, ending the year as high as 116.3 for an overall net rating of 8.4. However, if you look at this same lineup in the postseason, you see a group that is tied for the most minutes on the court together at 110, with better  overall ratings (123.9 Ortg / 101.1 Dtrg). With the Warriors the questions around them usually stem from their defense, so I guess it’s just a matter of which GS team is this? Their defense has been even better with Looney in the lineup, and while it’s hurting them offensively I think Kerr takes that every day of the week.

When you look at how the absence of Iguodala impacts the direct matchup with the Cavs, I know your brain immediately goes to the idea that they need him to help with Lebron. That they are more equipped to beat CLE with Iggy than without. But hold on. It’s a small sample, but in the two games the Warriors played CLE this year, they were actually better with Iguodala off the floor.

So sure maybe the Warriors never end up stopping Lebron, but they have enough firepower of their own where it won’t hurt them nearly as bad. Once they figure out how to run an offense with this different type of spacing, they should be fine.

Nobody is going to cry for GS given all the talent they have, but it would suck just in terms of available bodies if Iguodala was out for the rest of the season. Everything we’ve seen from this team tells us GS should still be OK, but I’m one who always prefers everyone be at 100%. Call me crazy. Now if for some reason Klay also can’t go after warming up, well now we have a situation on our hands.