Ezili started but only played 8 mins. He had no points.

Anyone know why he played so little?

mtnvandy2 wrote: Ezili started but only played 8 mins. He had no points.

Anyone know why he played so little?

Match-ups. Both teams prefer to play small. David Lee (remember him?) actually plays most of the minutes at C for GS, with Carl Landry playing a small but tough PF. GS uses Festus almost exclusively for defense against big men and rebounding at this stage in his career (as a pro, he's effectively almost back to where he was as a sophomore, when he was a foul-prone, defense-only player). Miami's preferred lineup has Bosh at C and Udonis Haslem (remember him, too?) at PF. GS could use Festus to guard Haslem and box him out, but they'd have no offense and that would leave the highly flammable Lee guarding Chris Bosh with virtually no help. Ouch.

Really, though, it's kind of a pick-your-poison scenario for them because either way for much of the game they're going to be stuck with Jarrett Jack guarding Wade (not awful, but not preferred), Klay Thompson guarding Ray (uh... no), and Harrison Barnes guarding Lebron (welcome to the NBA, rook!). Until Festus, Barnes, and Draymond Green mature a bit, or Andrew Bogut gets healthy, they just aren't going to match up well with Miami.