Festus Ezeli got the starting nod in place of injured Andrew Bogut for Sunday’s Game 7, a decision that might just be remembered as the one that cost the Warriors the championship against Cleveland.
It was the backup center’s fourth career playoff start and his first since May 16, 2013. The Warriors lost his first three postseason starts when he averaged 0.7 points on 0-for-4 shooting, four rebounds and 0.3 blocked shots as a rookie in the second round against San Antonio.
Sunday’s game was a similar disaster.
He missed his first three shots - all from pointblank range - and got beat by both Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love for putbacks off offensive rebounds in the game’s opening five minutes.