Game 3 Round 1: The Golden State Warriors (2-1) 132 - 105 Los Angeles Clippers (1-2)
First published April 19th 2019
The referees weren't screwing around and all night we saw a ton of whistles, while the flames of the KD-Beverly matchup continued to burn.
Boogie was often fed a lot inside in the first possessions of the game, but without him in the starting lineup we saw a change in approach where the Warriors have Bogut be involved in the early stages of plays bringing up near the three point lane and make use of his passing and screening.
For all the talk there has been about the Clippers top-locking the Warriors and minimizing the amount of three point shots, the Warriors are hardly reliant on those to win a game. You can however have much better chances of not getting an avalanche of points in a couple of minutes.
Beverly did get two fouls out of Durant very quickly but Kerr chose to keep him on the court and he went right to continue his scoring. Durant often would get the ball coming out of a Bogut screen that would leave Beverly behind and he started the game hot, with some ridiculously tough baskets. He started 5/5, outscoring the opposing team in the first 6 minutes.
On the other end, the Warriors were locked in and busted out a zone-like defense in a successful effort to stifle their offense, taking advantage of the lack of consistent 3 point shooting from two backcourt players for the Clippers starting lineup, and a better paint protector in Bogut which they trust to stay on players should he go higher up. Looney is also reliable on the perimeter against smaller players so this creates a new way to use the big men rotation throughout.
It was a 10 point lead when Lou Williams and Harrell checked in, and the real chess match would begin. And the Warriors weren't willing to give him an inch, tagging him from behind around the screens and collapsing hard on his drives. The Warriors would turn stops into a positive feedback loop and make 9 straight field goals to end the quarter, Curry already with 3 triples, and a 17 point lead. Fouls on Curry and KD were the only looming sign at this point.
The split screen when second quarter began of Kerr saying the team needs to be focused on the Lou/Harrell PnR while on the right screen that same play worked to perfection is kinda funny. But even, despite the lack of clear scoring of the second unit, the purpose is to basically contain enough it until KD/Steph gets back and I trust Iggy and Bogut in that role and Lou was barely noticeable for most of the quarter with Andre having a fantastic defensive game.
Smart on the part of Doc to have Gallo join this unit and he went straight to the weak link in Cook. If the two main scoring options are playing at the same time, it's much harder to hide him away. Durant would quickly make his way back to the court after being given extra time to rest at the end of the previous quarter. Klay started to find his game with four straight makes (and Dray out there playing chess).
I'd be lying if KD forgetting his man and turning the ball over on the following play in what would be a 10-2 Clippers run didn't start to bring some cold sweats after game 2. Plus, Curry would soon sit after getting called for a third foul. But KD would stop any momentum dead with drawing multiple trips to the line (two and-1s) and the Clippers faucet had been turned off once again. Great defense but also two long attempts from Gallo and one from Shamet that usually would go in but didn't here. Durant would end this half with 27 points and his team with a 21 point lead.
I'll try to be brief about the second half because... I mean...
Do you like missed shots? Man, than you'll love the start of this half. Gallinari just couldn't score today. They're challenged enough in regards to outside scoring and that makes it incredibly hard to compete. He was 1-11. The Warriors did try a lot of Dray creating from the post, usually towards a Klay or Steph cut. Even with Curry sitting on the bench for foul trouble once again, the Warriors kept charging ahead scoring. Durant making everything and it was a 30 point game before you know it.
A note on how Kerr sent a big and switchable lineup to end the third to contain any "comeback tendencies". The McKinnie-Iguodala-Draymond-Looney combo had an 85.4 defensive rating, even if only in 36 regular season minutes. In the playoffs it's 88.6 in the very small sample of 13 minutes - stats.nba.com numbers. But still, there's a clear defensive focus with this decision.
I couldn't bring myself to even focus during the 4th. After the embarrassing loss in game 2, this was the Warriors playing exactly like they wanted to play and Kevin Durant was a bulldozer going through LA.
Other notes:
Has the rest of the league realized already how reliable Looney has become? Because sometimes i forget it myself.
I'm just happy to have Bogut back in this team although i'm still scared that this might be too many minutes for his body to hold up, especially now that Cousins isn't playing a big chunk of them. Nice read once the Clippers get the switch they want (Steph on Gallinari) and Bogut goes right in to smother him in a double while Dray makes sure Zubac doesn't become a free outlet at the rim. In fact, Gallo would be smothered at any opportunity after his great scoring in game 2 and,as previously mentioned, the Warriors won't ever hesitate helping from SGA or Beverly.
Another thing Bogut did was have a lot of impact on offensive rebounds, which the Clippers were very soft on avoiding.
Beverly is trying so hard to stick to KD that in this play, when he doesn't switch to Iguodola, Harrell gets lost in no mans land between two Warrios players leading to an easy layup. Green does help a lot standing so far from Draymond but not affecting a single passing lane.
(Reddit)
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