Scrutiny on the bounty
Remember what Iguodala provides for Warriors
Did you know that Houston’s Chris Paul missed Games 6 and 7 of the Western Conference finals last year with a strained hamstring?
Of course, you do. Because the injury to Paul, one of the two most important players on the Rockets, got a tremendous amount of attention. In fact, it’s part of the revisionist history of that series, and how the Warriors somehow lucked into their fourth straight Finals appearance.
Did you know that Andre Iguodala missed Games 4, 5, 6 and 7 of that series with a knee injury? Or was his absence somehow overlooked?
“One hundred percent,” Draymond Green said Thursday. “We beat them by 40 (actually 41) in Game 3 and then Andre got hurt. It was never talked about.
“But we knew.” Now everyone knows, or should know, as a healthy Iguodala makes his impact in this season’s playoff series against Houston.
Iguodala, at 35 and now in his 15th season, is a defensive maestro. He and Green together are stifling the Rockets. Steve Kerr is starting the Warriors “death” lineup in this series, as was his intention last year. But when Iguodala went out after banging knees with James Harden late in Game 3, Kerr’s options became restricted. And the series went to seven games.
As we’ve seen year after year after year, “Playoff Andre” is a thing to behold.
“We’ve seen it all these years now, but every year in the regular season, as the years add on for him, you’re like, ‘Maybe this is it for him,’ ” Green said.
“Maybe he’s slowing down a bit?
“But I think he’s better right now in this postseason than he’s been in years. It’s a special thing: as bouncy as he is, the defense he’s been playing, the confidence he’s exuding. He’s just been an all-around great player for us.”
Iguodala’s strengths don’t always appear in the box score — although he has 19 dunks in the playoffs and those can be counted. But other contributions are harder to measure. They’re apparent on the court, in a smart, smothering, savvy way.
“I felt like we had some really good rotations, sprint outs, ran guys off the line and staying in the play,” Iguodala said after Game 2. “Those turnovers that we force help us get in transition and they can’t set their defense.”
Hard to measure. Hard to tally in a box score. But the stuff that is the difference in a game. Playoff Andre. “Ironically, I thought this was his best regular season of the last three, and there were times I was hoping he wasn’t going too hard,” Kerr said. “We want Playoff Andre to be Playoff Andre and not January Andre.”
Iguodala joined a group of younger players on the Warriors in 2013 and helped teach them how to become champs.
“He has so much more experience than us,” Green said. “So much more wisdom and knowledge. If you have a question, he’s going to give you an in-depth answer. It’s great to have a guy like that to learn from.”
How Iguodala — who is almost a full year older than LeBron James — maintains his body also has been a lesson to his teammates.
“When it comes to taking care of your body, he’s probably the best teammate that I’ve ever had,” said Green, who dropped 23 pounds to get ready for the postseason. “You just kind of watch. It’s not his job to take my hand and walk me through it, but you watch the things that he does. It’s special to have guys like that around.
“It’s something he gets no credit for, when it comes to our success. Just the presence that he has, the stability that he offers us. We’ve heard Steve say he’s the adult. When you bring him into a game, he settles things down. He does it off the court, as well. He’s a guy we can look to in the way he goes about things.”
Kerr praises Iguodala for doing everything he can to keep himself in shape.
“And — what’s it called? — the gene lottery?” Kerr said. “He won the gene lottery.” Iguodala agrees. “Honestly, just got really good genes,” he said. “And protecting the genes at the same time. Watching what you put in the body. I don’t drink anything but water.”
For six seasons, Iguodala has been the adult in the room. The babysitter. But also, one of the greatest factors in the Warriors’ championship era.
Kind of weird how sometimes that’s overlooked.