WarriorsWorld is providing an unbiased series of posts while watching and reporting on Jarrett Jack, and only Jarrett Jack, on both ends of the floor for the entire Western Conference Semifinals. This installment covers Game 5 in San Antonio.

Jarrett Jack Watch: Game #1
Jarrett Jack Watch: Game #2
Jarrett Jack Watch: Game #3
Jarrett Jack Watch: Game #4

 

Sometimes the stars don’t show up. It happens in every medium – sports, movies, TV, music. It’s why you need role players. The Paul Giamatti, Don Cheadle, Flip Mode Squad, Vin Rock, Lench Mob, Billy Preston, Newman (Hellloooo), Hugo Hurley, Bubbles and Paulie Walnuts of the world.

And Jarrett Jack.

Sometimes the role players can make up for the disappearance of the stars. Like Jack did in the regular season against the Cavs and Hornets. Sometimes a young, raw player steps in and shows the potential to be a future star. That’s Harrison Barnes in the last two games.

But it’s not enough in the playoffs. Not against the San Antonio Spurs.

With Steph Curry and Klay Thompson completely off their games offensively and defensively, Jack played solid on both ends of the floor. He was Donnie Wahlberg in Righteous Kill. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino were awful, but Wahlberg was working his ass off to make up for it. It didn’t matter. That movie was terrible.

And despite Jack’s efforts, the Warriors were terrible without Curry and Klay.  It didn’t help that Andrew Bogut came up with just two points, six rebounds and zero blocks.

A play-by-play analysis of Jack’s game would be as worthwhile as studying Wahlberg’s performance in Righteous Kill. Awful game, awful movie. Let’s just move on.

What Jack did was prove why he is such a valuable back up. When the stars are off, he can be there to pick up the slack. An average-to-below-average defender, on this night Jack worked hard on defense while hitting his patented mid-range jumper that makes him one of the most efficient in the league at that shot. He was also able to get in the lane quite a bit. As usual, he had his share of turnovers, but nothing too costly.

Not surprisingly, most of Jack’s best games of the regular season came in losses. When your role players take the lead, it means something went wrong. That’s what cost the Warriors. A role player or potential future star can’t make up for the disappearance of your top three players.