Dubs get crushed by the Cavs in a night to forget (with things to selectively remember).
Perhaps the most interesting stat for the Golden State Warriors heading into their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers: an 11-point plus-minus discrepancy between their starting units (plus-58) and their bench crew (plus-69), which is pretty rare given that a team’s starting unit is generally made up of its better and more talented players. In the Warriors’ case, having Steph Curry and Draymond Green still makes that notion true — but Steve Kerr’s revolving door of starting units, particularly at the two-guard spot, has contributed to that statistical outlier.
Against the Cavs — the only undefeated team in the NBA — Kerr opted to slot Gary Payton II into the other guard spot next to Curry. It was a move to place Payton onto Donovan Mitchell, with Andrew Wiggins guarding Darius Garland. Curry, therefore, was “hidden” on Isaac Okoro, with Green on Evan Mobley and Trayce Jackson-Davis on Jarrett Allen. The justification defensively was sound, but it was on the offensive end where potential problems could surface.
It’s no secret that as Kerr prioritizes more defense to start games, the higher the likelihood that Curry has had to work in a figurative phonebooth — which requires Kerr to dial up the creativity on the offensive end not only to get Curry more looks, but also to create more space in the half court with a lineup that theoretically has none. It’s close to being a Sisyphean task, one that can be remedied by hoping that the slant toward defense pays off.
But the spacing problem is hard to ignore, as I’ve opined in the past. Two non-shooters next to Curry is manageable yet still somewhat problematic; three non-shooters next to him is giving Curry a boulder to push up Mount Everest. If there’s ever a player who can make that work, it’s him — but it’s not doing him any favors.
Not when a team like the Cavs — brilliantly coached, filled with high-IQ operators, and executing at an extremely high level — have the wherewithal to defend the Warriors in the half court like this:
And this:
Negative spacing in an era of pace and space — ironically, an era the Warriors helped usher in during the heyday of their dynasty — is both audacious as a tactic and quite reckless in terms of it being a strategy to try to win games. The Warriors can pull it off, but do they really need to put a handicap on themselves in that regard?
Take note that some of the best lineups the Warriors played during their 2022 championship run involved a floor-spacing four — e.g., Otto Porter Jr. They don’t have that luxury this time around in the form of a similar player profile, but they do arguably have more depth to move pieces around and have the flexibility to tinker until dependable lineups can be found and a set starting lineup can be settled on. Reflecting upon that fact, it’s quite an accomplishment for them to start the season with a 7-2 record and squeeze the most out of everyone on the roster.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement — and room for adaptability, given that opponents are starting to adapt to them, especially as the level of competition becomes exponentially higher. Opponents wising up to the three non-shooter lineups surrounding Curry is proof of that, with the other being that teams with the requisite personnel and knowhow may also have something for the Warriors’ aggressive coverages on defense.
Against the Boston Celtics, trapping initially worked. The Warriors were also able to spring timely traps against the Cavs — not to the same extent, but they had flashes of success against Mitchell.
While the trap above may have been successful, take note of Sam Merrill — where he flashed toward:
And where he finally ended up:
By flashing toward the elbow as Mitchell was being trapped, Merrill seemed like he was getting ready to set a backscreen in “Spain” or “Stack” pick-and-roll — an action the Celtics used to lay the foundation for counters to the Warriors’ traps, one that isolated a singular defender on the backline whenever the Warriors put two to the ball. The Cavs’ version of countering the double teams was similar; just like the Celtics’ version, it aimed to take away or compromise one important component of the Warriors’ trapping scheme.
Take note of how the Warriors use a “roamer” on the backline to cover multiple release valves:
The presence of Merrill in the clip above is a tactical adjustment to occupy and/or isolate the Warriors’ roamer. Merrill may not have taken Hield (the roamer) completely away, but he made himself available up top for an open three. Only a successful trap from De’Anthony Melton and Kevon Looney prevented Mitchell from seeing his open teammate.
However, if the trap doesn’t induce panic from the ball handler, the roam counter can work wonders. The Celtics “leaking” Sam Houser instead of setting the backscreen isolated Kyle Anderson — the designated roamer — and put him between a rock and a hard place:
While the Cavs’ version of the “Spain” counter erased the roamer from the equation altogether:
That’s Mitchell flashing to the elbow as if to get ready for a backscreen in “Spain” pick-and-roll action. While not being able to set it due to the trap on Ty Jerome, Mitchell manages to attract Melton onto him and prevents Melton from acting as a roamer. Jerome manages to find Mobley on the short roll, resulting in Moses Moody having to step up and leaving Okoro open in the corner — an easy read for Mobley to make.
Despite the crushing defeat to a top Eastern Conference team — in which the Cavs built a 41-point halftime lead on the back of a 14-of-22 (63.6%) clip from beyond the arc — the Warriors gathered plenty of valuable data they could use from this game. The problem of spacing in the starting lineup is one, along with the problem of how to balance the need for defense with the need to make Curry’s life much easier to start games. The fact that teams are starting to find counters to their aggressive coverages is another, and deciding whether to stick to those coverages, modify them, or completely shelve them in favor of other methods.
Other than those data points, the Warriors have no room to dwell on this loss, for another tough test against the number one team in the West is up next.