[FiveThirtyEight] How the Golden State Warriors are Breaking the NBA

rudy t and dawson discovered this back in 1993. I guess they had a time machine.

 

The idea of shooting 3s and lock down defense isnt something new or a thing created by Warriors.

What they have is a group of unique players that just worked out for them. Those guys works and ours didnt.

IF Harden was playing anywhere near MVP level, we wouldnt be this down. It starts with your star player on the floor. it ends with him as well. no amount of firing or hiring coaches would solved the issue on the floor.

 

They only need to keep Curry, Green, and the better one between Barnes and Klay. Those other guys are more easily replaceable if they draft well which has been true of them.

 

Yeah, really is weird that no one in the media mentions that the Rockets did this in the '90s.

3s, Hakeem and Defense. And more Hakeem.

 

People are happy to forget the 90's Rockets. Nobody really mentions that they were the ones who went 15-0 before the Warriors broke that record last night.

To address the other point, inside-out basketball is essentially dead because there are few dominant post scorers who are also effective passers, and without illegal defense rules, you can get away with clogging the paint and forcing people to be creative on the perimeter to get their shots, which seems to be one of the big proponents for the rise of motion/spread PnR offenses.

The last inside out team that worked really well was the 09-10 Magic with Dwight, Hedo, Rashard, Jameer/Rafer, and Courtney Lee. That team was stacked with shooters off the bench too, namely Redick. Jameer had a 61% TS that year. I don't know if you can count the 10-11 Mavericks as an inside out team, as Dirk dominated from everywhere on the court that year. After that, in the Finals you have the Lebron Heat, the Durant/Harden/Ibaka/Westbrook Thunder, neither of whom had pretty offenses but had loads of individual talent, the Spurs (masters of the spread pick and roll) who had left the inside out game to focus on a more intricate and balanced offense, the Cavs (live and die by ISO), and now the Warriors who seem set to repeat as champs, another masterful perimeter offense team who don't have a dominant scoring big. Inside-out basketball might be dead, but shooting and perimeter D are very much alive, and Rudy T had figured that out a very long time ago.

 

Inside-out basketball is simply changing. The Warriors play plenty of inside-out basketball, they just don't do it by dumping it into a post-up big. They play tons of drive-and-kick, to suck defenses in (just as post behemoths used to) and open up shooters on the perimeter. They're leading the league in points in the paint...they're just not doing it the same way that the Shaquille O'Neal Lakers might have. But it has the same purpose and result...easy points at the hoop and open shooters on the perimeter.

 

To be fair, even though Curry gets most of his 3's unassisted off the dribble, the rest still get them playing inside-out basketball. Same principles apply, collapse the defense, kick it out for 3.. It's just they PNR/Drive to draw a double team, rather than dump it in to the post for a double team

 

I'm fairly certain that moving screens are part of their strategy too, and it's coached in a way to avoid foul calls. I think they also are banking on officials to just overlook it, because no official wants to call fouls every single play.

 

3&D isn't something new

 

Curry is amazing, but everything else about the Warriors is a product of the current NBA rules. Green is the modern Anthony Mason, and top centers like Hakeem would annihilate him under the 90s rules.

 

I don't think centers of the past would be able to deal with his 45% 3 pt shooting plus drive and dish game.

 

Yep, you're right. I was being narrow with my use of inside-out to imply a post-up and then kick-out. Now, as then, having a presence in the paint, whether a driving guard or a posting big, is a great way to create space for a kick-out 3.

 

Curry is insane.. he's ranking #1 in so many offensive categories..

Curry vs Harden as who is the better player is such a joke now. . even his defense is way better than I don't give a crap harden.

 

LOL at people calling this article trash and being terrible... its only written by Kirks Goldberry, whom along with Zach Lowe is one of the more respected nba writers.

 

Interesting how Curry's heat map is just pure moreyball in action.

It really is true that morey ball works ON OFFENSE. And that's where we fell flat. The morey strategy is the perfect one, but we have never been able to get the right pieces to fit into that strategy. Who's job is it to get those pieces? Morey. Chicken or egg?

 

Why do people always bring up the 90s? The 90s are long dead. 90s style wouldn't have worked in the 60s or in modern non caveman basketball. Why does it matter?

 

90s ball was the beginning of the end. The Hakeem isos and the Barkley isos was the beginning of decline of the NBA which didn't really change till mid to late 2000s.

 

Explain further? I know you had more going on up there than what you typed. But don't worry, I have that problem too.

 

They are allowed moving screen violations on a consistent basis.

 

Notice only clutchfans complain about this. Harden doesn't complain about it. When the rockets lost 8/9 to them last year, they didn't complain about that. In fact no other players complain about it. Only clutchfans for some reason.