Warriors' Lee ready to return, but injury cost team four wins

The good news is that David Lee has been cleared to rejoin the Golden State Warriors and he may be back in uniform as early as Saturday in Minnesota.

 

The bad news is, well, we learned just how bad the Warriors are without him.

 

With the $80 million man in uniform, the Warriors started the season 6-2 and created somewhat inflated hopes and hype.

 

Then he was essentially bitten by Wilson Chandler, who apparently left a piece of his tooth in Lee's arm, creating a painful infection that forced him to miss the last eight games. During that time, the Warriors went 1-7, losing their last five to fall to 7-9 overall.

 

How much impact did the loss of Lee have? Check out how these stats compare during the first eight games with the last eight games:

 

Points scored: Down 9.4 per game.

 

Points allowed: Up 5.2 per game.

 

Rebounds: Down 4.5 per game.

 

Rebound differential: From +18 to -36.

 

Field goal percentage: Down 4.2 percent.

 

Opponents' field goal percentage: Up 4.2 percent.

 

All of those are substantial differences.

 

The obvious question is how much better will the Warriors be with Lee back in the lineup. We'll have to see how quickly he gets back in basketball shape and what they can do during a brutal stretch in the schedule. A more interesting question might be, what could the Warriors have done the past eight games if Lee hadn't been out.

 

Let's take a look -- and a guess, starting with Friday's loss in Memphis.

 

-- Memphis 116, Warriors 111: Thanks to a huge game from Andris Biedrins (28 points, 21 rebounds), the Warriors actually won the categories where they miss Lee the most: points in the paint (56-44) and rebounds (44-33). It was a close game throughout, but the Grizzlies pulled it out by shooting better than 50 percent for the game and getting a combined 62 points from its guard trio of Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo and Mike Conley. It didn't help that the Warriors were limited to nine fastbreak points and lost the turnover battle 17-12. Even without Lee, the Warriors were surprisingly effective inside against the bigger Grizzlies, keeping Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Darrell Arthur to a combined 32 points and 17 rebounds. At first glance, it's easy to say that Lee's presence simply would have taken some numbers away from Biedrins and not helped in the areas that hurt the Warriors the most. But when you dig a little deeper and see that 10 of the 21 made field goals by those three Memphis guards came inside the lane, you wonder what effect a second big man defending the paint would have had. This is a tough call, but I say Lee would have been just enough to put the Warriors over the top. Give them a win if Lee had been in uniform.

 

-- Rockets 111, Warriors 101: The Rockets had lost four straight and were playing without Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks. Biedrins and Dan Gadzuric combined for all of six points. With Lee, this too would have been a win.

 

-- Nuggets 106, Warriors 89: Carmelo Anthony killed them from the wing and the free-throw line and it was the second game in a back-to-back set. Sometimes, a loss is a loss.

 

-- Lakers 117, Warriors 89: Lee played the first time they met when the Lakers won by 24. With or without Lee, this was a loss waiting to happen.

 

-- Knicks 125, Warriors 119: Considering how Lee played the first time he faced his former team and the fact that the Warriors couldn't grab a key rebound the entire game, give the Warriors a win with Lee.

 

-- Warriors 101, Pistons 97: It's their only win without Lee. We'll let them keep it.

 

-- Bucks 79, Warriors 72: The Warriors actually lost a game in which they held their opponent to less than 80 points. I can't imagine that happening with Lee on the floor. Here's another win they missed out on.

 

-- Bulls 120, Warriors 90: The first game without Lee, the night after he got hurt in New York. Back-to-backs on the road are always tough. The Bulls win this, but not by 30.

 

So, according to my calculations, the Warriors could have gone 5-3 during the past eight games if Lee had not been injured -- thanks for nothing Wilson Chandler.

 

They would be 11-5 instead of 7-9. Considering a possible seven-game losing streak looms after Saturday with or without Lee (games against the Spurs, Suns, Thunder, Mavs, Spurs, Heat and Jazz), the Warriors really could have used those extra four wins.