Warriors' Festus Ezeli: Helps fill in for injured Bogut

Ezeli had two points (1-3 FG), three rebounds and a blocked shot across 10 minutes during Monday's 112-97 loss to the Cavaliers in Game 5.

Analysis:

Ezeli, who played a combined four minutes in Games 3 and 4, got a bump in playing time after Andrew Bogut left the game with a sprained knee in the third quarter. With Bogut ruled out for the rest of the contest and the team already missing Draymond Green (suspension), coach Steve Kerr used several combinations of players, but never hit on the right rotation to improve the Warriors' effectiveness on defense. As such, Ezeli, Marreese Speights (11 minutes), Anderson Varejao (nine minutes) and James McAdoo (eight minutes) all got some court time, in addition to Ezeli. Bogut's injury looks bad, so there's a good chance he won't be available for Game 6 in Cleveland on Thursday. If Bogut can't play and Kerr wants a center to replace him in the starting lineup, Ezeli is the most likely fill-in option.