Warriors' lack of size is being exposed

The Golden State Warriors have been one of the smaller rosters in the NBA for years. 

The front office has failed to secure a skilled big man in multiple free-agent and trade cycles. Quinten Post is the only true center on the roster, but as a rookie, he can't be trusted in the postseason. 

On Wednesday, the Warriors started the game with Draymond Green at center. Green is 6-foot-6, hardly the size you would expect to see from a five tasked with anchoring a defense. Fortunately for the Warriors, Green is a generational defender and can lean on his IQ and processing speed to make up for his lack of size.

Yet, even when head coach Steve Kerr goes to his bench, Kevon Looney, Golden State's second-string center, is undersized at just 6-foot-9. 

It makes sense, then, that Houston's 6-foot-11 All-Star big man, Alperen Sengun, and 6-foot-11 backup, Steven Adams, have been having their way during the opening games of this series.

"In many ways, they're in the image of their coach," Kerr said during his postgame news conference. "Ime, he was a grinder as a player. He was tough and physical. That's what Houston is. They know where their advantage lies and it’s in playing Adams a lot - sometimes with Sengun. Having everybody crash (the glass). It felt like 1997 out there, to me. A completely different NBA game to what we're used to." 

Houston has size and athleticism throughout its roster. Couple that with its physicality and commitment to playing through adversity, and it's easy to see why it finished the regular season as the second seed in a loaded Western Conference.

The Warriors must find a way to overcome their lack of size. They've decided to play smaller, faster and with more finesse. As such, they knew that the postseason would challenge their roster construction. The problem is that Green and Stephen Curry are no longer in their primes. Playing smaller is much harder when your best players are on the downward slope of their careers. 

Houston aims to expose a genuine flaw in Golden State's roster. If it is successful, the Warriors' bid for a championship will be over. This series is the perfect litmus test to see if the Warriors' experience is enough to overcome a clear roadblock, or if general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. needs to finally add an experienced big man ahead of next season. Fortunately, we should get our answer soon enough.