Steph Curry, Warriors Keep Season Alive

The crowd at the Chase Center arena felt good about their team’s chances to keep the series alive when the Warriors got their first points via a Draymond Green jumper from three-point range. What they may not have known for a fact but felt intrinsically in that moment was that the Warriors were going to find a way to win the game.

Pace and space were the name of the game for Steve Kerr’s squad. The whole Golden State roster played with intensity and grit, and they showed their hand early on in the contest. After LeBron James bricked his first jumper just after the 11:00 mark, Draymond Green corralled the rebound and immediately took matters into his own hands (more on him in a bit). Though the possession did not end in points, it gave us a look into the game plan. After the Lakers sent the ball out of bounds, the Warriors got a chance to inbound the ball. Steph Curry inbounded to Green for a quick “get” action before finding Andrew Wiggins for a wide open shot from beyond the arc. Guarding Wiggins was none other than Anthony Davis, and that was the game plan.

Davis has been an unconscious shot blocker in these playoffs, and he found success against the Warriors. They kept challenging him at the rim and he kept proving that was maybe not the best idea. But in this game, the Warriors would do everything in their power to keep Davis out of position to be successful in that regard. Let’s talk about how they did it.

When the Warriors brought the ball up at 9:10 in the 1st quarter, the only action they ran was a simple pick-and-roll with Wiggins and Curry. Davis was forced to help as the pick man defender, and a solid screen from Wiggins allowed Curry to get some momentum against Davis on the perimeter. By forcing AD into this action, Curry was able to find a cutting Draymond for an easy and-1. Unfortunately for the Lakers, this would be a theme. The very next possession, D’Angelo Russell was flat out lost in the sauce and allowed Gary Payton II to shoot a wide open three from the corner, which he knocked down. To DLo’s credit, Payton was open because he sprinted the floor after the miss on the other end. Like I said, the name of the game was pace and space.

But the biggest impact player was the oft maligned Draymond Green. I should get this out of the way now: I love Draymond Green. He really disappoints me sometimes, but I love him, and his fingerprints were all over this game. For instance, the aforementioned Payton three ball? Green was the one who got the ball in his hands. So let’s give Dray some flowers.

On the defensive side of the ball, he did all the things that NBA fans have come to expect out of him at this point. Of particular note during this game was his discipline. He refused to provide help defense off of AD unless it was absolutely necessary. Even when the help was necessary, he never allowed himself to venture too far from Davis. Obviously, Davis is a top talent and is going to find a way to be productive, but Green did everything in his power to ensure AD worked for every single bucket and rebound.

Offensively, Green was in rare form and scoring efficiently. Though he was not as effective of a playmaker this game as we’ve come to expect, he more than made up for it in smart shot selection and tone setting. Green looked to push the pace all night, and it proved successful for the Warriors.

All that is well and good and admittedly not super insightful. But what I really want to talk about is the 3rd quarter, which was distinctly Warriors in nature. Right before halftime, Golden State hit back-to-back threes. The first came by way of a Kevon Looney- Klay Thompson DHO. But the second was from the Chef himself. Looney picked AD’s pocket, the ball found its way into Jordan Poole’s hands. As they had been doing all half, Poole pushed the pace, before getting the ball to a trailing Steph Curry on the Chase Center logo. 12.2 seconds left. Steph’s body language exudes confidence. He dribbles the ball to half court and sizes up his defender. 7.0 seconds left. He tests the waters with some crossovers, causing his defender to back down. 2.8 seconds left. In peak Curry fashion, he attacks the defender’s top foot with a between the legs dribble before wrapping the ball behind his back into his shooting hand and letting the jumper fly. 1.5 seconds left. He couldn’t have shot the ball more perfectly. Swish. 70 to 59 at the half. Uh oh.

This was all the momentum GSW needed, and they expertly carried it into the 2nd half. The Warriors were able to get AD on Curry Island early (with the first play, actually). Curry brought the ball up, and Wiggins set a pin-down screen for Draymond on the baseline. That forced a switch for the Lakers, meaning that AD had to be involved in the pick-and-roll. Again. Steph immediately went to work and was able to get an easy layup to his dominant hand. Immediately afterward, the Warriors got a steal and Gary Payton II scored another layup. Next possession: Laker brick, Gary Payton fouled on a layup in transition. A few possessions later, it became Klay Thompson’s turn to target AD. On the secondary break, he was able to get AD out of position just long enough to dribble right into an uncontested free throw. DLo then coughed up the ball, which found Draymond, who bricked a layup. Wiggins, being upset with the missed layup, decided to effortlessly jump over AD, grab the ball one-handed, and dunk it just to make sure.

The whole third quarter could be summarized with one word: effort. An abundance of it from the Warriors, and seemingly none of it from the Lakers. As far I’m concerned, the Lakers lost this game in the third quarter. So now what? The Lakers lose a game, and potentially AD for the rest of the series (he exited the game with a head injury in the 4th and had to be transported via wheelchair). The Lakers have been a net negative team with AD on the bench in the playoffs to the tune of -10.2. So what are the options for the purple and gold?

I think Darvin Ham gave us a glimpse into his strategy when AD went down. He moved LeBron to the center spot and surrounded him with shooters. He also instilled confidence in those shooters, telling them that they better not pass up an opportunity to shoot from deep. Obviously, we can expect a more robust strategy than “if you’re open, shoot it” come the next game, but I don’t expect it will be much more complicated. Fortunately for the Lakers, LeBron is still pretty good at basketball and the Warriors have some definite holes that can be exploited on defense.

I love Gary Payton II being in the starting lineup, but I suspect that he’ll be targeted by LeBron in Game 6. For one, James has a significant size advantage and could score fairly easily (despite Payton’s defensive chops). But getting Payton on James and into the post would prevent him from being a pest to the Lakers’ perimeter players. Plus, if the Lakers can draw some foul trouble early, it will help their chances down the stretch.

I’m sure LeBron will look to involve Steph Curry in as many actions as he can throw at him, but I also think that Klay Thompson is going to be targeted. Through no fault of his own, he’s just not the defensive force that he once was, and quicker ball handlers like Dennis Schröder will probably look to have their way with him. D’Angelo Russell is also going to have to step up, but I have faith in him. After all, he’s had a stellar playoff run thus far.

Regardless of the result, expect to see some great basketball between two of the best players to ever do it in the next game. The Warriors may have gotten away with the win in this one, but they have a long road ahead if they want to beat the force of nature that is LeBron James.