by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors at some point in the season were going to attempt to rest some of the core of their players and they did on Friday night in Denver benching Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala. They rested Bogut on the last big road trip they had in February when they went back east.

Bogut was going to sit in the game against Brooklyn on March 2 but in a game prior to that in Boston the Warriors Festus Ezeli got a technical foul and a one game suspension for pushing and shoving. Since Ezeli was out and he’s the back up center he would have started in Bogut’s place with him suspended the W’s had to put Bogut back in the line up.

The Warriors were definitely looking for a spot to get Bogut some rest as we already knew prior to this season the Warriors are very concerned about Bogut’s minutes he has that injury history. Anybody whose seven feet tall and as big as he is there is just a lot of wear and tear that would limit his time on the floor as much as possible.

In general everybody fresh in their memory from last season remembers Bogut was healthy for most of the season but he got an injury right at the end of the year and because he was out of that series in the first round you could argue that was the difference between winning and losing. That series went seven games and the Warriors didn’t have Bogut and if they have him they have a presence in the middle and their able to defend the Clippers Blake Griffin and Andre Jordan in last season’s post season and they don’t let anybody get by on the Clippers drive and that could have been the difference maker.

They want Bogut healthy and want him rested and their giving him rest whenever they can. This won’t be the last time Bogut sits once the Warriors wrap up their playoff position Bogut is barely going to see the floor until the playoffs. As for the other guys Curry and Thompson, now remember with them their obviously important to the team and they have played a lot in the last year.

Not only did they play all of last season the also played in the World Basketball Championships they logged extra minutes in the summer where a lot of guys normally wouldn’t. The Warriors have been doing their best to keep those guys from playing too much during the season. With Curry and Thompson they average around 32 or 33 minutes a night which is on the low side.

David Zizmor does commentary each week on the Warriors at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to his podcast below