Given Stephen Curry's MVP-caliber season, Draymond Green's jack of all trades offense and defense and Klay Thompson being the Robin to Steph's Batman, the Golden State Warriors' second unit is consistently overlooked. However, with no Warriors starter averaging more than 35 minutes per game this year, the bench rotation consisting of Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa, Andre Iguodala, Marreese Speights and Festus Ezeli is not only relied upon often, but they get the job done.
During the NBA All-Star break, Thompson spoke with Sekou Smith on the Hang Time podcast and discussed the Warriors' second unit while making one interesting claim. "We have a lot of nights when the starters don’t have it, and our second unit is good enough to be a playoff team in my mind, so that’s what’s pushed us over the edge," he said. "It’s been our depth."
Much like the Warriors' starters, the second unit has hard-working players who feed off of one another and work well together. They have the intangibles that make up a successful group, but would it be enough to get into the playoffs? As crazy as it sounds, Klay may be right about this one.
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[via Dime]
