Offensively, Donovan Clingan has transformed into an entirely different player for the Portland Trail Blazers over the past few games. As one of the biggest players in the league at 7-foot-2, 280 pounds, they are finally taking advantage of his physical tools. That was on full display in their 127-123 NBA Cup win over the Golden State Warriors.
As a result of Portland's depleted backcourt, Deni Avdija took on more of a point forward role, resulting in a career-high 13 assists. There were multiple possessions where Avdija found Clingan for a lob over the undersized 6-foot-6 Draymond Green, using Golden State's positional versatility against them. As a result of the mismatch, Clingan finished with a career-high 22 points, along with ten rebounds and four assists.
That size discrepancy between Portland and Golden State's frontcourt turned out to be the difference maker in this contest. The Blazers dominated the rebounding battle, 52-32.
Blazers size advantage exposed Warriors roster construction
This is already the second time this season the Blazers have defeated the Warriors, the first being a 20-point blowout. Portland's contrasting play style and roster construction have clearly become a significant advantage over Golden State, giving other teams around the league a blueprint for beating a Stephen Curry-led team. They were impressively able to overcome key injuries and a 38-point performance from Curry, giving the Warriors their first home loss of the season.
“With that type of discrepancy, you can play as hard as you want to, fly around, but the best offense and the most demoralizing thing for a defense is 20 seconds of good defense, then an easy putback or a second, third opportunity,” Curry said. “We know we’re small out there at times, but we've got to play bigger than we are.”
The Blazers have established a roster identity as a team that compensates for their shooting and playmaking concerns with size, defense, and physicality. They are a team that typically wins the possession battle by forcing turnovers and creating second-chance opportunities. Clingan is a key component for achieving this style of play and has done a much better job of playing to his strengths as of late.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr tried to compensate for their lack of size by rotating Green, Al Horford, and Quinten Post, with two sharing the court at times. But the 39-year-old Horford missed the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury, and it's no secret that Post isn't the most physically imposing player.
Kerr tried all he could, but Clingan didn't expose a coaching problem; he exposed a roster construction problem. One that Golden State will have to address by February's trade deadline to be considered a legitimate threat to come out of the west.