If the Golden State Warriors‘ 112-117 Game 1 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers offered any major lesson, it's that the Lakers are much bigger than the Warriors. This isn't exactly next-level basketball analysis or even a novel situation for Steph Curry and the Warriors in the NBA playoffs, but it informs which lineups the Warriors can play and when they can play them. To wit, the emergence of Kevon Looney as a masterful rebounder and dribble handoff hub has opened up new pathways to success for Warriors. As such, the Warriors hope that a Looney-Draymond Green frontcourt battery somewhat negate the Lakers' overwhelming size.

But, in Game 1, it was actually the Warriors' smaller lineups that had the most success—lineups with just one big man were +10, while the Warriors were -5 with both Looney and Green on the court. When the Warriors stayed big, Lakers' star Anthony Davis had more freedom to roam on defense, able to lock down the paint without worrying about leaving a shooter open on the perimeter.

Heading into Game 2, the Warriors have their work cut out for them as Curry, Klay Thompson, Green and Kerr will descend into the film room to find a solution. How the Warriors deploy their stable of big men is perhaps the most important x-factor in the most anticipated series of the NBA Playoffs.

“You’ve just got to [figure out what works],” Warriors superstar point guard Steph Curry said after the game. “That’s obviously Coach [Steve Kerr] making calls and decisions on how the game is going and flowing. If we can rebound, going small is to our advantage. There’s probably three, four possessions where you can see we got a stop, we got the rebound, we got the push, somebody was open. That’s kind of how we like to play. If it’s traditional and the way that they are playing us, we just have to be more organized in terms of our overall spacing. [We need to] respect how they are trying to guard us and where they are trying to push us on the floor and just make the right reads. I got my shot blocked I think three or four times trying to get little floaters off.”