Game 4 of the NBA Finals takes place in the early hours of Saturday morning (2am) live on Sky Sports Arena
Thursday 6 June 2019 16:57, UK
'Next man up' is an NBA cliché up there with the very best of them.
But it's a mantra the Golden State Warriors have been forced to live by with bodies battered and bruised all around the locker room as it reaches crunch time in their bid to become one of just a handful of NBA franchises to reel off three titles on the spin.
DeMarcus Cousins is just back from serious injury and was applying ice at the end of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, where the Warriors fell 123-109 to the Toronto Raptors to fall 2-1 behind in the best-of-seven series.
Klay Thompson sat out Game 3 after tweaking his hamstring in the previous clash in Toronto, while two-times Finals MVP Kevin Durant has been missing with a calf strain since the latter stages of the Western Conference semi-finals against the Houston Rockets.
Being two All-Stars down is a major blow to the Warriors chances of the three-peat.
Add into the mix the fact key role player Kevon Looney's season came to an end in the early stages of Game 2, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for Steve Kerr to put a credible unit on the floor.
Stephen Curry and Draymond Green can only do so much on their own, but with the other two members of the Warriors' big four needed back, is it worth risking the player's long-term health for another crack at the Larry O'Brien trophy? That's what the Warriors have to weigh up.
And with the Raptors looking like they will push them every inch of the way, Golden State can no longer equivocate.
NBA commentator and former All-Star Chris Webber made no bones about how it will end for the Warriors if they are unable to put their superstars back on the floor. "If they don't have KD or Klay Thompson, then they can't win this series, period," he insisted.
"DeMarcus Cousins is battling back from injury. It's tough and he hasn't played in a while. It'd be unfair for us to think he's going to score that much.
"I think it's unfair to expect Klay Thompson, one of the best shooters this league has seen, to come and have 30 points and his team just win.
"He still has to recover from the Game 2 injury.
"Cousins still has heat on his Achilles. That whole left side is being banged up and it's not so much that they can't do without him, this is the NBA and you still have to have great players, even though this is a dynasty and a great team that we're watching.
"Without him they're going to have to move the ball, they're going to have to find help from someone else. Shaun Livingston is going to need to knock down shots… but on the other end: how are they going to stop people when you have to have DeMarcus Cousins stopping somebody on the pick and roll knowing he's injured? What if you continue to go at Klay?
"This team is good and what is so fun about watching them is their ball movement but it's going to be fun watching them figure out how to do it because without two shooters it's going to be tough."
Before he succumbed to injury Kevin Durant was averaging an outrageous 34.2 points per game in the postseason on more than 51 percent shooting and more than 41 percent from beyond the arc.
His productivity was a real difference maker for Golden State and provided them with a deadly option when their trademark ball-sharing philosophy failed to provide them with what they needed.
Getting him back could potentially be decisive and veteran pundit Kenny Smith quoted his regular on-screen comrade Charles Barkley as he purported an interesting take on how the Warriors will approach Game 4.
"I GUA-RAN-TEE (as Barkley would say) that Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant will be playing in Game 4. I think that was the other reason why (Golden State) can hold them back because now we're going to have everyone for Game 4.
"We're going after it on Game 4 and the series starts then. If KD doesn't come back for Game 4 then there's no reason to come back at all.
"Now, everyone will be in the lineup for Golden State."
So, knowing that going down 3-1 with two road games remaining would leave them in a huge hole, the Warriors now have to weigh up the biggest decision the franchise has had to ponder for a while, with regards to how they manage their rotation.
They could have both Durant and Thompson return for Game 4 on Friday, but the Raptors have proven that their collective can stand firm and they have hung their hat on their incredible defense throughout the postseason.
Regardless of whether the two All-Stars make it into the lineup, Toronto aren't worrying.
"We'll be ready for whoever plays," Raptors big man Marc Gasol said. "If it's Kevin, if it's Klay, whoever it is. We're going to have a game plan for them and we're going to try to execute it accordingly."
Game 4 takes place in Oakland in the early hours of Saturday morning (2am) live on Sky Sports Arena.
