In hopes of keeping their title hopes alive, the Warriors are looking to former Knick David Lee, all but forgotten before these NBA finals began.
Based off his strong play in Game 3 of the finals, Lee could play a prominent role Thursday night in Cleveland when the Warriors try to save their season against LeBron James and his depleted band of Cavaliers.
Although James has now directed his team to nine wins in its last 10 games, Lee liked the Warriors chances of knotting the series at 2-2 with a win in Cleveland’s Quickens Loan Arena.
“I know what kind of basketball team we have,’’ he told reporters in Cleveland. “We've been in this same position, down 2 1 at Memphis, against a great veteran team in Memphis that attempted to do the same thing Cleveland is doing. That’s slow the game down, grind it out, and play to their strengths. That's exactly what Cleveland's trying to do. I have faith that we're going to come out and play the right way and then this series is right back to square one.’"
It would be a tremendous comeback story for the Warriors if they can save their season and return to Oakland for Game 5 tied with the Cavs. But it could also be a terrific comeback story for Lee, who was with the Knicks for the first five seasons of his NBA career. It seems like 20 years ago, but he made the All-Star team in 2010 after being a first-round pick of Isiah Thomas when he ran the franchise in 2005.
When Steve Kerr came aboard to coach the Warriors last spring, one of his biggest moves was to demote Lee to the bench after he had started his first four seasons and was an All-Star selection two years ago. That took a lot of guts, as did Kerr’s decision to turn Andre Iguodala into a reserve.
The difference was that Iguodala continued to have a major role for the Warriors, while Lee become a highly-paid cheerleader. He played in only 49 games in the regular-season -- a career low -- and had little impact in the playoffs until Kerr found that his frontcourt players were wilting under the pressure of the finals.
The Warriors’ troika of Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut has been so ineffective in all phases of the game against the Cavs’ front of James, Mozgov and Tristan Thompson, Kerr decided he needed Lee to try to get the NBA’s No. 1 offense jump-started. While he's suspect on defense, Lee helps space the floor and he’s a very good passer. But it’s more than that.
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Kerr also had to find a way to get his struggling MVP, Stephen Curry, to start playing again like one of the game’s top players. What better way than to get him working again with Lee, his old mate on the team’s pick-and-roll from Mark Jackson’s coaching days.
Curry erupted for 17 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3, helping the Warriors recover from a 20-point deficit to make it a one-point game in the final minutes. With Lee helping the rally, Kerr saw that he can go back to the Curry-Lee pairing for tonight’s game. The Warriors especially need Curry to show up and dominate from the start and he’s all for Lee getting a bigger role.
“It's the situation we've been in the last three years, four years,’’ Curry told reporters out at the finals. “I trust him to make plays when they come off the pick and roll and I'm double teamed and throw it to him. He's got a great skill set to put it on the floor, survey the floor, figure out what the best option is or even finish at the rim. So I'm sure he'll have a huge impact and get a lot of minutes to come out and help our team. That's something that is impressive, for him to play certain games and not play certain games but still come in and have an attitude that he's ready to play.’’
If you’ve seen the first three games of these finals, then you know it’s going a lot more than just a strong performance from Lee to get the Warriors even in this series. Faced with more adversity than a finals team has seen in recent years, James has been brilliant in getting the Cavs to band together after losing Kyrie Irving in Game 1 for the remainder of the finals with a knee injury, and also continuing to have to play without their other All-Star, Kevin Love, who was KO’d for the playoffs in the first round with a shoulder injury.
In contrast, the Warriors have suffered from their lethargic, uninspired play in Game 3. Green called out his teammates on Wednesday, saying their lack of effort had undermined their chances of winning the franchise’s first title since 1975. Moreover, Curry had opened himself to criticism with his poor body language during the team’s struggles, a no-no for the Warriors' leader.
To outsiders, it seemed as if the Warriors, without anyone on their roster to get this far in the playoffs, just aren’t ready to handle the finals. But also, this could be the product of them encountering very little adversity while winning a league-67 games in the regular-season, and then rolling to 13 wins in their first 16 post-season games.
“Well, a lot of that is human nature,’’ Lee said. “We have a team that's very, very competitive. When things aren't going your way and you know you're capable of playing better as a team, I think we have every right to be frustrated, especially on this kind of stage. Everybody wants to play well. Everyone wants to win a championship. So I understand exactly what's going on. But I don't think at any point we're giving up. That's not going to happen. I expect a much better performance from our whole team in Game 4.’’
The whole team, which now includes David Lee.
Longtime New York columnist Mitch Lawrence continues to write about pro basketball, as he’s done for the last 22 years. His columns for NBCNewYork.com on the Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the NBA, along with other major sports, will appear twice weekly. Follow him on Twitter @Mitch _ Lawrence
