Game 6 Round 2: Golden State Warriors (4-2) 118 - 113 Houston Rockets (2-4)
First published May 11th 2019
Obvious plan from the tip-off: stop the ball from reaching the splash bros. They switch everything, try to make sure they have no easy passing lanes and if that means help out and ignore any other player in the perimeter, so be it. Outstanding execution by Houston early: The Warriors can't reach the only two players they're trying to create for . Tucker both steps in and stops Bogut finding Curry and then switches to stop the cut by Thompson. Either they were completely stifled or they were trying very early jumpshots, that were not going down. If the only available pass is Bogut throwing it to Iguodala in the corner, then the defense won.
Curry got the second foul before the halfway point of the quarter. Kerr brings in Cook to maintain the shooting and immediately CP hunts the matchup but the rest of the team did a good job covering for him. In this play he gets help from Bogut, Dray and Iggy.
The first play where the Dubs busted through the wall was this one. They mistimed the switch but Harden should have dropped when Capela went up. Houston was happy just for having kept away from Thompson and had Harden been in position this would still be exactly what their gameplan was.
The moment Looney came in he already is affecting the game. A strong vertical contest on Harden followed by an offensive board and a putback. He would also have a layup where he drives from halfcourt to the rim in full point guard mode. I think he was directly responsible for almost all of GSW's points in this first stretch of his.
The Warriors were trapping Curry every time but the weak side was too open for players that can hit midrangers at a solid clip. Looney can make those simple passes and Houston needs to react quicker after the call leaves Curry's hands. I don't consider this the same type of gamble from when they left Green open in the previous quarter.
The Rockets had their turnovers reach double digits but most of them were offensive fouls or product of good defense. There weren't a lot of unforced turnovers.
Despite this, the pace of the game was starting to increase heavily. The first real run of the game to create some distance was on the back of Klay Thompson. Houston fell asleep twice to allow him a good look coming off screens. (Harden in the first and Rivers misreads a switch in the second). The Rockets would respond by going red hot from deep but those easy 3s for Klay might be what cost them the game, not taking advantage of the Warriors at their weakest moment in the game and in the series.
At this point Steph was abysmal: 0-5, including some misses from layup/floater range reminiscent of game 3and with 3 fouls. The Warriors relied on going deep to their bench and it payed off - 20 points in the half. A combination of no Durant, a scoreless Curry and a tied game is an outrageous idea. Klay Thompson was absolutely fantastic considering how much he was doing on both ends. Harden also had an strong half, with a few good threes (Looney can't drop so much here), but his jumpshots weren't hitting at a particularly efficient level and I thought the defense in his floaters was pretty good from the start. Still, The Beard would get 14 points in the first quarter alone, constantly finding his way to the line.
Regarding Curry, Houston was incredible at making sure he got no looks coming from screens or in a handoff. But whenever Steph got going in the midst of all these struggles he was playing on ball, with his dribble, and attacking the rim. And this won't cut it because when Bogut isn't connecting with Gordon and the pick needs to be set a lot higher up on the floor. All that's happening here is they're making it easier for them to trap the ball handler and collapse the defense. The entire offense of the Warriors to begin the third seemed to be Iguodala shooting from the wing/corner... This is also bad offense btw. Chris Paul's early flurry kinda masked it but not much was going on in this side of the court as well.
But to focus on something good, the most important thing I saw in this quarter was how Harden was spectacular in getting deflections out these many Warrior passes. This isn't exactly a new skill, since he's always been great deflecting entry passes when teams try to post him up but here he was much more aggressive anticipating in space. This was not only multiple possessions that go the other way but killed any rhythm the Dubs were trying to play with more movement.
I liked Kerr going with Cook and Jerebko alongside Curry to spread out the floor, while Harden and Klay rested. The Rockets would have the stronger final minutes though, but it for a collection of things that aren't related to this idea: Curry did get the space he wanted but missed, Kerr gave up way too quickly on Cook for Iguodala even though he wasn't being attacked during this stretch, Chris Paul was incredible and Jerebko decided to get hiccups.
You can see how much Klay has a hard time creating with his dribble. He simply doesn't have the quickness and the skill to blow past Capela and PJ Tucker would eat him alive if he tried it on him. Paul now was indeed looking to go at Cook every trip and he goes back to the bench for Livingston, that answers in kind. Steph-Klay-Shaun-Iggy-Dray is a good response for the Rockets guard heavy lineups.
After 3 minutes without points in a completely frozen game, we officially enter crunch time. The Curry/Green Pick and Roll was spammed like the series depended on it. The first "unlocking play" is a huge shot by Curry, which Harden responds to in his second try. Curry was visibly bothered in his left hand after that fall. His dislocated finger scares the hell out of me... And i highly doubt that hasn't been affecting his jumpshot. But I have to say, he again found himself after an awful first half. For how awesome Tucker is on KD and Klay, Curry is too quick for him to defend in isolation. The game would be sealed by a Klay Thompson 3 in a play where Houston defended everything correctly but the shot just went in.
In the Rockets last effort PJ passed the ball too early before Looney committed to helping, having the ability to close in and block the ball. Prior to this, Gerald Green had already missed in crucial moments where the Rockets could have taken momentum in the game.
It's hard for me to not be a fan here, this is a fantastic win. No Kevin Durant, Klay's scoring and the bench was able to keep us in it despite CP3 being great and Harden, despite missing some free throws and some mistakes, had some really nice stretches. Strength in Numbers indeed. Curry scored all of his 33 points in the second half, 6-8 shooting in the 4th. This to me is a game to remember. And i'm incredibly happy that there isn't a game 7 to further exhaust the players. I know no Houston fan wants to hear this, but these two years the Rockets have been incredible at making me shit myself.
I talked very little about how amazing defensively Green, Iguodala and Klay were, and i mean the whole series. That's mostly because i have written a lot about it in regards to other games and don't want to repeat all that. But I am constantly amazed at what level they can reach on that side of the court. The Rockets had a few possessions where they made mistakes or a miscommunications while the Warriors had very very few. Their defense won this. Harden was 3-12 with Klay as the defender, and the team had 0.9 PPP when Andre was on him.
Other Notes:
-> The Warriors held the Green at center minutes to the minimum but more shocking was the lack of PJ at the 5, which Mike never really tried that much this game. I have no idea why because Capela gave them very little.
-> I can't believe Iguodala shot so well from deep this series.
-> I really appreciate how much the Warriors hunted for offensive rebounds, crashing the glass with intent. Previously, you would only see some players like Looney shine in their limited minutes but now everyone with any length to speak of is trying to exploit a system that switches the bigs away from the rim.
-> Bogut held up surprising well, although he was never called upon to face Harden in a switch. And despite his mandatory silly moment, Bell rewarded his playing time with the second unit with two blocks and a dunk taking advantage of numbers in transition. This is the type of game that will buy him more minutes.
(Reddit)
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