The Warriors are riding high
The vaunted Warriors offense lit up the Mavericks in Game 2 in a 20-point comeback.
There is nothing in the NBA like the feeling of watching the Golden State Warriors explode. They play with confidence and swagger, and their innovative offensive approach is so unique as to seem unparalleled. No one else plays like them, because no one else can play like them.
We got one of those Warriors explosions in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, in which Golden State stormed back from a 20-point deficit to win and go up in the series 2-0. It wasn’t your normal Warriors eruption, however. In the second half, in which they scored 68 points, they made just six threes, by six different players. Steph Curry scored a calm 12 points on 4-9 shooting in the second half.
But their offense was humming, running circles around the Mavs’ athletic small ball defense, which gave the league-best Suns fits in the second round. They created space all over the court with cuts and kickouts, spacing out a defense built to deal with space.
Almost everyone on the court for the Warriors at any given time can beat their defender off the catch and make a decision with the ball. Dribble penetration might be the most important commodity in the NBA playoffs (along with three-point shooting, of course), and the Warriors have more of it than anybody.
There is no steady play that they use all the time, the way that many teams run various pick-and-rolls or pet plays for their stars. They instead run players through various screens and cut all over the court, distracting defenders and giving the ball-handlers a chance to beat their player off the dribble. After that happens, good things happen: the defense has to help, and someone will be open.
They were in such a rhythm that they were cooking even when Curry wasn’t on the court. Their lineup at the start of the fourth quarter — Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Moses Moody, Otto Porter Jr., and Kevon Looney — gave the Warriors their first lead and extended it. The infrastructure remained, using speed and shooting to attack weaknesses and rotations.
This type of play is familiar to anyone who’s watched the biggest NBA games over the past seven years. It tells us a lot about how the Warriors beat teams.
The Mavs make the right rotations and defend aggressively like they know what’s coming. It doesn’t matter.
Poole doesn’t immediately create any advantages against Jalen Brunson. But he dribbles baseline and gives himself a passing lane, which becomes useful as Curry and Thompson do their thing on the other side of the court. Notice the Mavs’ defensive approach: they have two guys defending the three Warriors on the other side (in effect, zoning up) in order to have a help defender, Luka Doncic, planted in the paint.
Thompson sprints to the near side, where Poole will be able to make an easy pass. Maxi Kleber runs with him as Bullock smartly peels away from Looney and defends Curry. Kleber stays with Thompson, but when Poole gives it to Klay, Kleber is so concerned about Thompson popping a three that he closes too far out, allowing Thompson to blow by for a layup.
That’s not all, though. Curry never stops running. He drags Bullock with him. Andrew Wiggins runs to the top of the key. The result? No one is in the paint to stop Thompson’s drive.
Other teams beat closeouts off the dribble. After all, having good catch-and-shoot targets is not unique to the Warriors. But the difference is that they have such movement and organization that they prevent the opponent from being able to swarm any spot on the court. If someone had stopped Thompson’s drive, it’s a good bet that he would have simply passed it somewhere else for an open look.
Having players who can make these reads is crucial. Watch Looney (#5) on this play:
He gets the initial pass after Curry draws two defenders. Looney immediately knows that Porter is open in the corner, and makes the pass. Porter’s quick decision to drive opens more space, and frees Looney for an easy bucket.
Poole and Curry are always roaming, dragging their defender and threatening deadly cuts into space. Good luck defending this:
They’re like criss-crossing wide receivers. They attack space with speed and precision.
Curry got hot in the second quarter, finishing the first half with five three-pointers. Mavs coach Jason Kidd, clearly worried about losing the lead to a Curry hot streak, spent much of the second half doubling and trapping Curry. But sending two defenders at him opens a can of worms that the Mavs were not prepared to deal with.
Here’s the classic short-roll situation, in which Curry’s screener (in this case Looney) attacks a four-on-three as two guys guard Curry:
On this one, Curry runs around the double team and feeds Looney with a gorgeous no-look pass:
There is no obvious solution to the Warriors’ whirlwind offense. But the Mavericks are no strangers to this situation. Against the complex Suns in the second round, they went down 2-0, only to adjust and eventually win the series.
With speed and mobility on defense, they are well-built to handle the Warriors. They can switch anything — even Kleber or Doncic can hang around defending Curry or Poole — and they are good at making smart, on-the-fly rotations.
One of the biggest improvements that they will have to make will be improving their closeouts on shooters. They have to find a way to deter the shot without allowing the player with the ball to waltz into the paint. Containing on the perimeter will be crucial.
I’ll be interested to see how they defend at the level of the screen, as Curry, Thompson, and Poole will always be in search of their looks on simple pick-and-rolls. The Mavs have to close out on those and switch without putting two on the ball or allowing the guard to infiltrate.
They’ll also need more from the players who end up in the paint, often Doncic, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Kleber. It’s not easy, but defending the Warriors necessitates great individual plays. Dallas will need those players to come up big with contests at the rim and blocked shots. Doncic, who will get attacked more and more, will have to make an impact.
A solo superstar flanked by an army of shooter and defenders is taking on the Warriors juggernaut. We’ve seen this movie before! We’ll get to see how Dallas responds as they head back home for Game 3 on Sunday.