What sort of adjustments can we expect from the Warriors? https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05...s-gsw-kevin-durant-western-conference-finals/ Kurtenbach: Five things the Warriors should change after their Game 2 loss By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: May 17, 2018 at 1:21 pm | UPDATED: May 18, 2018 at 3:44 am HOUSTON — The Warriors laid an egg in Game 2 of their Western Conference Finals showdown with the Houston Rockets Wednesday, and we now have a series. A lot went wrong for Golden State in Game 2 — the final score, 127-105 tells that story — but not most, if not all of it, is correctable. These five suggestions aren’t a comprehensive list, but if the Warriors can make these changes, there’s plenty of reason to think that Game 3 will look a lot more like Game 1 than Game 2, so feel free to steal them, Steve. 1. Bring the force There are a dozen reasons why the Warriors lost Game 2 and the Rockets won it, but you don’t have to overthink this one: the difference in the game was effort. Facing a de-facto elimination and in front of their home crowd, the Rockets brought it in Game 2 from the opening tip. They played with energy, composure, and heart. The Warriors, on the other hand, played like it was November — they were disorganized and lazy. “I just think this game was a matter of the Rockets bringing the force that’s necessary,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, repeating the buzzword of the postseason. “We set the tone early with our own play and allowed them to get some confidence and some easy buckets in transition. We let guys get going a little bit.” The Warriors had five turnovers in the first five minutes and seven turnovers total in the first quarter of Game 2 — they had nine turnovers in 48 minutes in Game 1. That’s what Kerr means by tone. What the Warriors showed in Game 2 — that isn’t winning basketball. Change that and a lot of other things start working. 2. Less isolation Much like the Warriors are cool with James Harden taking a ton of shots through isolation, the Rockets are cool with Kevin Durant doing the same. Both teams have confidence that their guy will outscore the other guy, and it’s mainly been a wash in this series. The Warriors’ advantage comes from the other facets of their offense — but we didn’t see much of that in Game 2. It’s a make-or-miss league and the Warriors missed 21 open shots in Game 2, per NBA.com stats, but the Warriors’ offense lacked pace, rhythm, and dynamism as far too many possessions started and stopped with a post-up. “They walked it up tonight and did a lot of isolations,” Mike D’Antoni said. “Switching causes you to do that.” That’s the same thing that got the Rockets in trouble in Game 1. Credit to the Rockets for playing much, much, much better defense in Game 2. They blanked Klay Thompson, who had 15 3-point held goal attempts in Game 1, only put up 11 shots total, with four coming from behind the arc in Game 2. The Rockets are trying to run the Warriors off the 3-point line and it worked in Game 2, but Durant cannot be the only player to make an impact in the mid-range, and he can’t make that impact solely through isolation sets. 3. Simplify the defense – and the matchups I don’t know why the Warriors seemed to change their defensive strategy from Game 1 to Game 2, but as soon as it became clear that the Rockets were actually going to move without the ball and try to get a set in before isolating with Harden or Paul, the Warriors changed up as well. It did not work. “We were trying to be too cute with our switches and that kind of stuff, instead of just manning up and playing one-on-one defense,” Curry said after the game. This series is going to be positionless, for the most part. Lots of five-out play and high pick-and-roll. The Warriors, of course, are more than capable of handling that. I don’t know why they felt the need to over-compensate on the defensive end to get certain matchups so often in Game 2, especially after the success of Game 1 — and I don’t know if that it was particularly in the game plan. But it happened and the Rockets benefitted. Kerr has started the Hamptons 5, the Death Lineup, Mega-Death — whatever you want to call it — over the last four games. That was understandable: Kerr wanted to set a tone early in Games 4 and 5 of the second round and Green was the team’s best option to defend Anthony Davis. In Game 1, he wanted to set a tone again, and you don’t switch up a good thing for Game 2. But there was consideration of starting Kevon Looney for Game 2 and the Warriors should make it happen in Game 3. The super-duper lineup hasn’t been all that effective in this series and I think it’s because Green isn’t able to freelance on defense as much as the team’s top rim protector. The Warriors thrive when Green is “guarding” guys like Rajon Rondo — which is to say that he’s playing free safety in a quasi-zone defense. That’s going to be hard enough to facilitate in this series — the Rockets have spot-up shooters across the board now that Luc Mbah a Moute has rendered himself unplayable — but Clint Capela is a particularly difficult matchup for Green because of his vertical threat. Green cannot leave him, lest the Rockets throw it within 10 feet of the hoop for a dunk. Green has mostly defended PJ Tucker in this series and a key difference in Game 1 and Game 2 was Tucker hitting shots. The Warriors have to live with that — they need Green engaged and aggressive and something has to give to make that happen. Tucker isn’t going to make 5-of-6 3-pointers again, and frankly, the Warriors need to be cool with him taking 10 or more — just like opposing teams are cool with Green shooting. (More on that in a moment.) Starting Looney to guard Clint Capela off the jump would allow Green to matchup with Tucker to start. When Tucker slides up to center, then Green can too. 4. Stop playing David West West has been arguably the Warriors’ best center all year, but this is not the series for him. The Rockets are too small, even for him. Before the series, I predicted that Jordan Bell would play more minutes than West. I didn’t feel great about that after Game 1, but after Game 2, it needs to be considered a lock — just for the Warriors’ sake. The Rockets are keen to play small — super small. PJ Tucker (who is maybe 6-foot-5) at center small. Constant five-out small. Even if West can score on the interior against those guys (and he can), this is not a series where he can be on the court, simply for the defensive reasons. Four-out? West can play — but the Rockets aren’t playing Nene, their only traditional big man. Against five-out, he’s a defensive liability that will give up more than he could ever score. He cannot miss a shot and expect to be a positive player for the Warriors in this series. West’s player ratings for Games 1 and 2 are nearly hilarious if they weren’t so mind-bending. It’s a small sample size, to be sure, but West has posted an offensive rating of 134 in his roughly 10 minutes of play. Outstanding! To go along with a defensive rating of 144. Oh my. Golden State is giving away chunks of the game when West plays — it can’t happen again now that this is a competitive series. I don’t know if Kevon Looney gets a bit more run or if the Warriors just ride Draymond Green during those stretches — they could go to Bell, who is a fit for a five-out game, as well — but they can’t play West anymore. 5. Get Draymond to shoot The Rockets want Green to shoot. Green has to oblige them. In Game 2, he was all sorts of out-of-sorts offensively and you could see it from the start of the game. More concerning than his turnovers and two 3-point misses was the lack of aggression. Twice in the second quarter, Green had opportunities to shoot close to the hoop — twice he decided to overpass instead of put the ball up, and twice he was picked off by a Houston defense that had bet, almost irrationally, he would do such a thing. Was that the reason the Warriors lost? Nope. But it was indicative of how the Rockets want to play Green and how he played into their hands Wednesday. Green needs to be more aggressive — for himself — in Game 3 and beyond. The Warriors do well when he plays offense with confidence.
They're just gonna play with a lot more intensity and focus than they did in game 2. We have to match that and then some or it'll be over quick.
If the Warriors are going to play Looney and Green together a lot on the Road, it's time to unleash the charging Ryno. 20 million is going to buy us one big game, it's science.
If they start Looney it’ll give the Rockets two weak points to attack. I think conceding the Hamptons 5 will show a lack of confidence in that group. Thinking they stick with that for Game 3. They marginalize KD to get Steph more shots. Rockets just need to stick to him and be fine. I’d expect several calls have been made today regarding the Rockets manhandling Stephanie.
My predictions: 1. They will come out much more focused on the defensive end. Game 2 was just a lackadaisical effort by them. 2. They will drop their Hamptons 5 and start McGee. Sounds crazy but McGee always plays well against the Rockets and Harden. He provides the shot blocking and alley oop catching ability that Looney and Pachulia don't. I expect their bigs slip ball screens like Gobert did to us in round 2. 3. They might change their defensive scheme by trapping Harden/CP early. Portland did it to us I think in a regular season game and took the Rockets completely out of rhythm. 4. They will to go back to playing Warriors basketball. That is ball and body movements instead of Durant going iso and get Curry and Klay involved in the offense.
James Harden and Co need to call Anderson and Luc to get them to step up. We need both of them as the Warriors will adjust and not all of our guys will be as hot as G2. We need to be prepared for the Looney lineup as their Hampton 5 wasn’t as effective. Green hitting shots can be problem, but mixing up our defensive strategy with him should disrupt his shot, if he gets it going. I am not as worried about the other points in the article. Steph hitting contested shots can be a concern, but you have to live with it but contain everyone else. Stopping the play makers from driving in and shooting contested shots is the key, while sticking to the outside shooters and playing the passing lanes to disrupt their offense while sparking our offense.
This series I'm convinced will be about who is mentally tougher. Both teams are completely confident in their players and system, none of that will dramtically change. It's going to be about who plays tougher/harder that night and who shoots better. That's simply it for this series I feel. So it will be important to stay close to the Warriors, even if we lose, let them feel us, let them know that they are a few mistakes away from losing games. This is a team that are and have been front runners, if you can get them behind in a series you can tighten them up.
McGee didn't play at all against the Rockets this year. Last year, he played in 3 of the 4 games; only 1 of those games I'd call good. There's a reason he's not playing for the Warriors anymore; he turns the ball over too much and doesn't play within the defense. I expect them to go to Looney and I expect the Rockets to torch him and Curry regularly. The Warriors depth isn't what it used to be.
Problem for Anderson is he's just poor fit for our switching defense. Every time he's on the court the Warriors are just going to make him defend KD.
IMO Kerr should play McGee. Guys like Harden and Gordon have a hard time getting around him. I remember last season there was a game in which McGee came in and complete turned the game around for the Warriors.
They're just going to move the ball a lot more and run fewer iso's for Durant (going a bit more to Draymond high post with Curry). Durant was a team-worst -28 despite his success scoring the ball. Draymond and Curry have looked disconnected.
Warriors will trap Harden/CP off the switch and force PJ Tucker, Ariza, or one of the other guys to make the dribble & teardrop, pass or midrange play. Have to counter by breaking the trap.
Yep... make them doubt whether their (arguably) best player should even be on the court, and we have done half the job of beating them already. Make Curry SUFFER.
Grab him, elbow him, shove him to the ground. Don't back off when the refs start protecting him and they will. Pound him when you are on offense. This is going to be an easy game to get caught up with the refs. If you ignore it, keep manhandling him they will get tired of blowing their whistles. We have to be the tougher team to win this series. Even if someone fouls out and we lose the game, it will set the tone for the next game and the refs will have to let them play. We just need one of these next two and not to get blown out in this game. I really believe the Warriors are starting to doubt and we can't give them any confidence even in a loss.
I think at this stage it's about coaching. both players are focused and ready to take energy to another level. it's about strategy now.
