We have the impression that Warriors of the Golden State and the the Los Angeles Lakers are destined to play a game of hot potato with the 10th and 9th seeds this season.
After beating the Lakers two nights ago to move up to 9th place, they fell back to 10th place after losing to the New York Knicks at home, while the Lakers took care of business by blowing up the Atlanta Falcons – not exactly the sequence of events they were hoping for when they returned home.
This also makes the possibility of them climbing up to the 7th/8th play-in bracket much murkier. They are three games behind Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns; their only hope of climbing the rankings rests on a combination of luck being on their side and taking matters into their own hands.
At this point, the Warriors shouldn’t worry about everything around them and focus on what they can control. But as this game against the Knicks showed everyone, even that seems like a tough proposition for a team that hasn’t felt like it’s in control for most of the season.
Starting matches strong and establishing concepts on both ends of the court are always the key to winning matches; Some of the Warriors’ losses this season have resulted in a glaring absence. The Knicks defense did a great job of suppressing what the Warriors wanted to do on offense: skipping passing lanes, picking the right coverages and executing them almost perfectly, navigating the screen and knocking shooters off the line .
Their counterparts did the exact opposite: coverages that were picked apart by Jalen Brunson, breakdowns at the point of attack that led to breakdowns on the baseline, late closeouts and hits on cuts and slides. The Warriors couldn’t afford to have nights of poor execution and lack of attention to detail – and that’s exactly what happened tonight.
After the match, Steve Kerr pointed out being beaten on backcuts, which usually happens due to a certain habit of watching the ball. The fundamentals of off-ball defense involve the concept of seeing both the ball and your own defensive mission – do this by keeping your head swivel and constantly shifting your gaze between the action on the ball and the person kept.
Lingering for a second or two at one end of the spectrum can be detrimental. Spending too much time looking at your man completely takes you out of the game and doesn’t allow you to help with any breakdowns that might arise from the start. On the other hand, prolonged gaze at the ball risks completely losing sight of your man, who may have already moved elsewhere by the time you become aware of him.
This is what happened to Steph Curry twice against the Knicks. Here is the first example:
On a 5-out set initiated with the “Pistol” action, Curry stares at the ball a little too long and fails to move his head back in time to keep an eye on Deuce McBride, who times his cut with the “shake” or lift by Donte DiVincenzo – made worse by the fact that no one is on the baseline (due to Trayce Jackson-Davis’ initial lift-inducing action) to act as the last line of defense.
The second case:
McBride doesn’t score directly on the backcut above. But that forces Gary Payton II to have to help his man to stop what would have been an easy layup. As a result, the corner kick is open and Brunson drills the three.
Not all of the breakdowns on defense were as egregious as the ones above. But each of them was equally damaging.
For example: the inability to contain actions involving the ball up front is almost always the cause of what happens behind. Warriors are notoriously known for their excessive habit. Some of this is due to risks and downright wasted gambles, while some of this is due to a breakdown at the point of attack that results in clean taxiways and open taxiways.
When this happens, backfield defenders are forced to step in and help, which then requires a chain reaction of helping rotations that becomes moot if the execution behind it is below perfection. A perfect example of this concept occurred here:
You can argue about McBride’s choice of screen coverage over Wiggins — whether Chris Paul should change, or whether the Warriors were justified in letting Wiggins stay home to lock down and track Bojan Bogdanović — but it shows how well the Warriors have faith. to Wiggins to get through screens and pursue the shooter.
That confidence is misplaced in this case, causing Wiggins to lag far behind in the dribble-handoff action for Bogdanović. Jackson-Davis is then forced to move higher to cover Bogdanović, making the role open. Under conventional NBA helping rules, the throw must then be “scored” by the low man – Paul in this case. As a result, the corner man remains open, meaning someone must “peel off” (peel off switch) toward the corner to cover the man left open.
This is what I meant when I said that the assist rotations behind the front action should not be less than perfect. Both Wiggins and Paul are placed in a precarious position – Paul has no choice but to score, while Wiggins’ job is to recover quickly to close out McBride. But it’s easier said than done.
Other cases of failed coverage and shoddy execution weren’t as nuanced and were simple failures of crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s:
It is inexcusable that Klay Thompson was nonchalant during his time with McBride. He needed to be much closer and higher to take up space, but he gives McBride too much space and spits out an open three-way rhythm.
Another Thompson boo-boo:
To say the least, biting on a pump fake from beyond the arc by Josh Hart – a career 34.5% three-point shooter and shooting a career-low 31.8% this season – is not not ideal.
That’s not to say the Warriors weren’t capable of playing defense. But it required focus, renewed energy and impeccable execution, which were more the exception than the norm tonight.
It’s no coincidence that they went 10-0 at the end of the first half by increasing their intensity on defense:
(The one above was triggered by Brandin Podziemski helping Hart cover Brunson’s drive at the “nail”, resulting in a turnover when Brunson is forced to pass out to Hart. Jonathan Kuminga jumps the passing lane and forces the turnover, which leads to a bucket on the other end.)
But the Warriors failed to maintain their energy and fell back into their old habits. Their inconsistency on the field has been the story of the season – and perfectly reflects their overall inconsistency this season.
