The Golden State Warriors will score enough to beat the Los Angeles Lakers of Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole shoot like we know they can.
Reliable contributions from Gary Payton II, Donte DiVincenzo and Moses Moody would finally fortify the defending champions’ bench, a debilitating weakness as they scraped by the Sacramento Kings. Jonathan Kuminga’s size and athleticism looms extra large against the Lakers, even after Steve Kerr left him out of the regular rotation in the first round.
Steph Curry’s historic performance highlights in-depth reactions from the Warriors' Game 7 triumph over the Kings.
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— Warriors Nation (@WarriorNationCP) May 1, 2023
The Dubs know what they’re poised to get from from Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney against the Lakers. Pretty much every other Warrior represents a wild card, with the potential value of one holding outsized importance to the result of the second round’s most highly anticipated series.
Here’s why Andrew Wiggins is the Warriors’ X-factor against the Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Warriors' X-factor vs. Lakers in Western Conference Semifinals: Andrew Wiggins
No player on either team better exemplifies the questions and answers posed to Golden State and Los Angeles on both sides of the ball in this matchup than Wiggins.
He’ll no doubt start out guarding James, but Golden State will also task Wiggins with switching onto Davis. He's a stouter post defender than his lean physique suggests, and Davis has never mashed size mismatches down low befitting his status as a tier-one big man. The Memphis Grizzlies held him to 27.3% shooting on post-ups in the first round, unafraid of even switching Desmond Bane onto Davis given his inability to establish deep paint position.
Wiggins will likely have to battle James down low, too. LeBron didn't do much posting up in the first round, but he's always been more keen on holding office hours from the block the deeper he goes in the playoffs. Wiggins' ability to hold up one-on-one with James and Davis in the post will be key to Golden State sustaining its stingy halfcourt defense from the first round.
Where he'll really have to amp up the physicality, though, is on the defensive glass.
Wiggins was a revelation rebounding the ball during Golden State's title run this time last year, and fell a bit short of that standard against Sacramento—no surprise considering he hadn't taken the floor for nearly two months before the postseason opener. Look for Wiggins to be more intentional about crashing the boards against the Lakers, knowing full well Darvin Ham's team derives success from winning the possession game.
Another area Wiggins' didn't completely shake off his rust versus the Kings? Spot-up shooting. He made just 26.7% of 4.2 catch-and-shoot triples per game in the first round, the vast majority of which were clean, open looks—including a corner clank in the waning seconds of Game 1 that could've sent the Dubs to victory.
Los Angeles won't dare Wiggins to launch from deep like it will Green, Looney, Payton and Kuminga. But with mass defensive attention paid to Curry and Thompson providing another imminent shooting threat, he's nevertheless poised to get a steady diet of makable tries from deep.
Just as important is Wiggins punishing the Lakers with forceful straight-line drives and poised opportunities from the left block if Ham tries to “stash” D'Angelo Russell or Malik Beasley on him. Wiggins is too talented a three-level scorer for Golden State not to try and exploit that disrespect.
There's even a chance Davis guards Wiggins when the Dubs go small, Los Angeles preferring to keep the guy who seemed like the league's best rim-protector against Memphis in the paint while switching across four positions elsewhere. Again, that's a gambit Wiggins shouldn't tolerate. He's versatile and smart enough offensively to eat up extra space in front of him as a cutter and mid-range shooter even if his long ball isn't falling.
Wiggins has made a habit of meeting the moment throughout his NBA career. James has been one of his favorite opponents ever since he entered the league, the notoriously mild-mannered Wiggins ostensibly motivated by LeBron's snub after he was draft first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers when The King decided to return home.
Wiggins is beyond getting up for matchups with James, other superstar wings—he relished going toe-to-toe with Paul George in the past—or his hometown Toronto Raptors now. He proved during last year's playoffs he's comfortable playing a major role on basketball's biggest stages, against its best competition.
The lights don't get much brighter than a fifth chapter of Curry vs. James, while both the Warriors and Lakers now look like legitimate title contenders after topsy-turvy regular seasons.
There's no doubt Wiggins will come to play against Los Angeles. What could decide Golden State's fate in a dream second-round matchup, though, is whether he can raise his game on both sides to heights normally reserved for stars. An encouraging omen for the Warriors? Wiggins did just that against Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the Celtics with a title on the line last June.
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