Game 1 Round 2: Golden State Warriors (1-0) 104 - 100 Houston Rockets (0-1)
First published April 29th 2019
The Warriors start the death lineup right off the bat, with Steve Kerr going against his most stubborn instincts.
The Warriors had playmaking come from whoever is Harden's primary assignment (usually non-shooters) and this forces James to be involved on the defensive end and gives him less time for physical and mental rest during games. In general, There was no doubt of the intention of making him work as much as possible on this end.
The Warriors weren't interested in gimmick-y defenses and we saw the usual switches and help game, with exceptions for things like trying to avoid Curry switches. And it didn't take long for Harden to start hunting Steph. I'm sure we'll see continue the PnR between Houston's backcourt often to force that switch. (I bring your attention in these clips at how Gordon pushes the defender after setting the screen and i'm wondering how much that is going to fly over the series). This is a good example of Klay moving in anticipation of the screen and avoiding the switch. Another way to try and counter the switch to Curry was having him show just for a second while the defender tries to get through the screen and this resulted in a bucket but in a situation that the Warriors will live with. They committed to this to a fault: In a couple of occasions, Houston had 24 second violations waiting to exploit this switch. This is an inexcusable waste of possessions. They take WAY TOO LONG to start their moves.
The game had a sluggish beginning with a lot of stoppages and relatively low scoring. Houston was successful in having the worst offensive players getting the bulk of the offense which leads me to something that can swing the series: How well can Dray and Iguodala work their two man game and use the focus on the 3 main scorers to their advantage. The start was promising with Green slipping before setting a screen and leaving the two defenders, worried about Kevin getting free, to eat his dust. But the Rockets also missed all of their first 8 three point attempts and would shoot 1-13 in the first quarter. They got better as the game went along but the open looks here will be something they'll look back upon.
The Warriors struggled for a section there... Nenê got steals and impactful rebounding with the Dubs helping with some very poorly executed plays. A lot of this isn't forced and it's just sloppy play and the game was even on the back of it despite shooting woes for the away team, who also had the free throw advantage. That's not to negate how useful Nenê can be: His size in the post and rebounding provided good contribution. However, if he's going to get switched onto Curry he won't be able to keep up. And they went for it a lot in the second quarter.
I don't like plays like KD playing 1v1 on Tucker. He's their best guy on Durant this year and spent most of the game denying him off-ball. Try and force the switch so he can ISO against someone else or make some handoffs coming from off ball movement and screening. The more player movement you have against a switching defense, the easier it is to force miscommunications. Even more so when Houston is no longer a "switch everything defense" and sometimes decides to fight through screens. You can create confusion if the players aren't particularly strong at doing defensive reads. A couple of stops and a few of these plays and it was a 10 point run to finish the quarter.
Bogut's minutes are likely to be very tightly managed against the Rockets but they really ever tried to attack him. And i like how they had him often set picks very high up the floor, giving him a lot of chance to play in space and just last game we saw it kill the Clippers.
The double drag screen for Curry already mentioned was producing a small lead leading into half time and they're great in screwing up a lot of matchups, including giving a better chance at a rebound because you can get Draymond being boxed out by guards. However, turnovers once again were rampant for the Warriors and they head to the break losing 19-5 in points off turnovers. CP and PJ are great at swiping at unsuspecting ball handlers.
Early in the second half i thought the Warriors pulled together some really locked in defense. The death lineup simply executes better than anyone. Switch all but Curry, help on Harden, no one misses a rotation and live with passable looks for role players.
The Warriors started ran a ton of Curry/KD PnR in the third but weren't getting the usual levels of scoring from it but they get two trips to the line. In that last one, Curry might have had a window to hit Durant for an easy finish. Curry would pick up his 4th foul and sit out the rest of the quarter, with Kerr going for a long and fully switchable lineup to hold these minutes. And it became the Durant show, on both ends. It gave them breathing room but the game remained close going to the last quarter.
The early portion of the 4th was a great period for Houston because the Warriors continued their ridiculous amount of fouling, with Curry getting his 5th, and some strong defensive stops (great example of PJ denying Durant the ball). This resulted in an 11-2 run and a tied game.
The response was in the form of KD attacking Nenê on the perimeter twice, leading to two fouls, which took him straight out of the game. This lead to the final 5 minutes, with both of the starting lineups back on the floor for crunch time who proceeded to miss a bunch of threes in a row.
This is an incredible moment where Curry with 5 fouls smothers Gordon and creates an easy transition play. Harden had a huge layup with an and-1 with 40 seconds on the clock, another occasion in which he speeds to the rim in transition with no help - i wish Green had stepped out a bit more from Tucker. And i could say the same for Looney in Harden's final basket showing that transition D wasn't at its best. But the Curry/Nenê matchup that worked so well in the second quarter would show it's face again. Only possible because of a great little detail noticed that this post pointed out, since before they were having KD go at Harden.
Warriors relied very little on the outside shot, had below par scoring games from the Splash Bros and had a lot of turnovers and still won. However, despite solid defense, Harden will have more efficient nights from 3. They can also get better advantages on fouls and attack more in transition should they choose. It's still going to be a very interesting series going forward. A big factor in this game is how many times the Dubs were able to disrupt lobs to Capela. Whether Shaun, Draymond or Durant, there was multiple instances of good coverage swiping that pass out of the air and they were wonderful taking Capela out of the game. Taking out the interior drives from Houston's offense really troubled them.
Other notes:
I avoid referee talk at all costs but I have to say, we were really lucky on some calls on Harden stepbacks. Thompson was on his landing space three times although that call wasn't given to anyone this game. Though there are a lot of things about shooting fouls in the perimeter that need to be clarified the way things are evolving. Still, the Warriors fouled a ridiculous amount.
I didn't mention Eric Gordon but he's a strong guy with a low center of gravity that bothers almost anyone if he's up into their body. Him and Tucker were awesome on defense. And he was very aggressive driving and drawing contact on the other end.
I have a hunch about how Looney, and to an extent McKinnie, can give Houston a lot of issues with their vulnerability on the offensive glass, and he grabbed his first as soon as he checked in. Didn't translate a lot this game but the Warriors were +10 in 2nd chance points and Green's rebound was a big time wasting moment in a decisive stretch. And contrary to some opinions that have been expressed to me in the past, though not ideal, i'm very fine with Looney on an island against guards. This game, the Houston guards were 3-7 (1-5 form 3) with no foul calls against him.
I'm fine with them giving Dray a lot of space as long as he reacts aggressively and quickly as he does here. He might be tempted to try and bully Harden on the post should the occasion arise but this is a win for the Rockets. He's a legitimately good post defender for a guard and Green isn't very versatile in post moves.
Awesome job by Tucker to cover for Harden falling asleep and almost giving Curry an open 3. The reverse side of the coin with PJ is that any shot that isn't a corner 3, you should pretend he doesn't exist and live with it. Draymond does this here, even to the extent of first looking like he's going to close out but then realizing who it is.
(Reddit)
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