SAN FRANCISCO — Maybe the NBA’s regular season does matter, just a little bit.
Because one of the Warriors’ biggest problems in the 82-game schedule — the fact that they weren’t big enough — has already proven to be an issue in the postseason after just one round.
Now, it wasn’t enough of an issue that the Warriors couldn’t defeat the Denver Nuggets in five games, culminating Wednesday night, but it’s an issue nevertheless.
And moving forward, I can’t imagine that the problem won’t become larger.
The Dubs, meanwhile, cannot. So it’ll be upon them to play better around their literal shortcomings.
Let’s first establish that the Warriors play their best basketball when they’re playing small. Draymond Green is only 6-foot-5, but he can guard any big man in the NBA. Andrew Wiggins has played up this postseason, particularly on the defensive side, and has done a great job, and Klay Thompson’s rebounding in the fourth quarter of Game 5 provides hope that he can fill some of the Warriors’ size gap.
When the Warriors play small, with Green guarding the opposing team’s center while playing point guard on the other side of the court, they can push the pace of a game in a way rivaled by only a few teams in NBA history. It’s chaos at both ends of the floor, and the Dubs’ best players thrive in chaos.
But then there are the minutes when the game is not running at 100 miles per hour.
And Denver found a way to increase those minutes as the team’s first-round series progressed.
In turn, they created a blueprint for the rest of the NBA.
It took Denver a couple of games to realize what their only route to winning was, but they finally went big and tried to muck the game up. The goal: put size on the Warriors’ small players and consistently put the ball in their big man’s hands, putting the Warriors in positions to foul.
The Warriors, who averaged 21 fouls per game this regular season — the fourth-worst mark in the league — were happy to oblige. They averaged 25 fouls per game in the last three games of the series against the Nuggets.
Golden State needs to get out and run. They can’t do that when their opponent is consistently at the free-throw line.
The Dubs’ fouling led to messed-up rotations and only 7.6 percent of the Golden State’s points coming on the fast break against Denver in the five-game series, a mark that would have been the NBA’s worst in the regular season.
Pair this with the Warriors’ penchant for turning the ball over and you can understand why coach Steve Kerr has to practice stoicism on the bench.
But this is Golden State’s roster. It’s not changing now.
If they go with their biggest lineup, they have two non-shooters on the floor, allowing opposing defenses to slack off in a way they never would in the regular season. They’re basically playing 5-on-3. Less than ideal.
If the Warriors go small, they have incredible offensive firepower, but they’re susceptible to losing control of the game to a post-player and opponents’ offensive rebounds.
Now, not every team the Warriors face this postseason will be able to execute the blueprint.
Nikola Jokic averaged 34 points and 15 rebounds over the Nuggets’ last three contests of the campaign — he was dominant in three games Denver could have won.
But when he wasn’t on the floor, DeMarcus Cousins was eating up the Warriors, too. The former Dub went 14 of 19 from the floor in the 35 minutes he played, total, in last three games of the series.
Now, Jokic is going to be the back-to-back NBA MVP and Cousins is one of the most talented (albeit mercurial) big men in the NBA. That’s a great combination of centers — the likes of which the Warriors will probably not see again this postseason.
But all Denver had in this past series was size. Jokic, Cousins, and Aaron Gordon when he decided to play big in the final two games of the series, showed the ability to control the contest against the diminutive Warriors.
Other teams will have some size, too. Memphis has Jaren Jackson and Brandon Clarke and a ton of strength on the wing. Minnesota has Karl Anthony-Towns, who averaged 28 points and 11 rebounds against the Warriors this season. Phoenix will always have a competent center on the floor, starting with the underrated DeAndre Ayton, followed by Javale McGee and Bismack Biyombo, the latter of which was signed mid-season to a 10-day contract.
But those possible playoff matchups for the Dubs also boast All-Star point guards, ascending players on the wing, and elite shot creators. Everything Denver didn’t have.
So the challenge for the Warriors will be ramped up, significantly, in the next round and perhaps rounds to come.
This isn’t to say they cannot win. No sir. Golden State looks to have a gear that no other team can touch.
But the series against Denver does make me wonder how often they can reach that gear.
There are more giants blocking the road, after all.
