Lot of talk for GSW to keep playing Lee after that big 4th quarter run. The main lineup there would presumably be Curry-Thompson-Iguodala/Barnes-Lee-Bogut, with some potential to go smaller with Green in place of Bogut. FWIW, Lee and Bogut played a total of 152 minutes together this season; Lee and Green, 189, so there’s not a lot of experience with either combination, which makes it intriguing as a major in-series tactical adjustment. I saw a lot of talk about how the Cavs don't have the personnel to take advantage of D-Lee's defensive inadequacies (though he did alright last night), but is that actually true? Maybe they don’t have the true 4 (in the Aldridge/Randolph cut) to go after Lee…but don’t they have LeBron?
With the lineup described above, I’m assuming the Cavs would counter with Dellevedova-Smith-Shumpert-James-Thompson. Is there really a place to hide Lee w/ that lineup? Put Iggy on LeBron, and then hide Lee on 1 of the 3 guards (probably Shumpert). Could the Cav’s run Shumpert-LeBron PnR’s to get Lee to switch onto LBJ? Because that’s a win for the Cavaliers every time in my opinion. And if they don’t switch, I feel like getting GSW’s 4 20+ feet from the rim is a win in itself, considering how much they’ve been killing the Warriors on the glass. Alternatively, the Cavs could replace Shump/Smith with Mozgov, go big, and try to bang on the boards against Lee and Bogut/Green. Although I’m not sure how well they’d hold up defensively playing Moz & Tristan against the Lee/Green combination.
I’m not sure. Lee played well last night, but I still think their ceiling as a team in this series is lower with him on the court. Unfortunately, Green and Bogut have alternated playing poorly enough so that Kerr has to make some kind of adjustment. I’d be wary of playing Lee major minutes, especially with the Cavs certain to find some ways to attack him defensively in their preparation over the next 36 hours.