How Golden State Exploited Zach Edey In Space

Contrasting approaches to defensive stress points explain why Golden State is the 7 Seed and Memphis is not.

Note: Apologies for the surfeit of typos in my previous post (corrections subsequently made.) Chalk it up to distraction and being in a hurry. I will be more careful going forward.

Zach Edey was a problem for the Golden State Warriors in Tuesday’s play-in game. The Memphis Grizzlies were a +6 in Edey’s minutes, the best mark for any Memphis player in a game that Memphis lost by 5. Zach Edey was not the reason that the Grizzlies lost the 7-8 play-in game. He bullied the Warriors on both the offensive (7 rebounds) and defensive (10 rebounds) glass, playing no small part in the Grizzlies rebounding 41% of their own misses.

Nevertheless, as a very large human being, Edey can be exploited as a defender in space. Draw him out to the perimeter and a smaller guard or wing should feel brave enough to take him off the dribble. If I, a mere blog boy, is aware of this, you can be sure that the Memphis Grizzlies are too. When the Warriors went small, or five out, the Grizzlies had Edey mark Golden State’s least threatening offensive option (Draymond Green or Gary Payton 2 for instance.) Memphis would have happily signed up for the Warriors asking Draymond or GP2 to go iso ball against Edey on the perimeter.

Of course, Golden State did not resort to that strategy. Instead, on critical possessions down the stretch of a tight fourth quarter, they attacked Edey in a variety of ways. With just under six minutes to go and Quinten Post in the game for the foul-plagued Draymond, Golden State dials up a Curry-GP2 pick and roll to bring GP2’s defender, Edey, into the play. With Edey splitting the difference between playing up to the level of the screen and a soft drop, Steph has a wide enough window for the pass, creating a 4-on-3 advantage for the rolling GP2.

The Warriors did not run a steady diet of pick and rolls with Steph as ball handler and Edey’s man as the screener. Perhaps that would have worked, but (i) a predictable attack can be schemed for, and (ii) Coach Kerr has always been loathe to spam 1-5 pick-and-rolls, chary of the toll it might extract on Steph.

Instead, on a subsequent possession, they leveraged the unique skills of each of their three stars, and knowledge of the Grizzlies’ preferred defensive alignment, to unlock a wide open three for the greatest shooter in NBA history. First, they run an inverted pick and roll, with Steph setting a back screen on Jimmy Butler’s man. That gives Butler, a canny driver, the half beat he needs to get into the lane, forcing the weak side low man to help. That helper is Edey, marking certified non-shooter Draymond Green in the corner. Problem solved for the Grizzlies.

Not so fast. The kickout from Butler finds the unmarked Draymond, who has better handoff-screen chemistry with Steph than married couples have in most facets of their relationship. Even with Scottie Pippen Jr. doing a creditable job all game staying attached to Steph, there is little he can do without Draymond’s man anywhere in the picture.

As if that wasn’t enough variety, the Warriors had Draymond (again defended by Edey) run a dribble-handoff action with Steph for the game sealing three. Knowing that Edey may not survive on an island against Steph, Pippen Jr. scrambles to get back in the play and in the chaos of the moment, Steph is poised enough to pump fake and find daylight.

That’s three very different ways of exploiting Edey’s perimeter vulnerabilities, all while involving the Warriors’ best offensive weapon and keeping the Grizzlies guessing.

Contrast that with how the Grizzlies approached perceived mismatches. When Draymond, with five fouls, was forced to the bench prematurely in the fourth quarter, Memphis tried attacking Quinten Post. Unlike the Warriors, they adopted a more blunt approach. Here’s Jaren Jackson Jr. isolated against Post and trying to take him off the dribble. It doesn’t end well.

Two of JJJ’s three turnovers came when he tried attacking mismatches in space.

At a superficial level, Brandin Podziemski and Quinten Post are perhaps exploitable mismatches for a player of JJJ’s caliber. But at just 0.90 points per possession on isolations this season per NBA stats, JJJ is no isolation monster either. As I wrote in my 2022 Celtics-Warriors finals preview, the question around mismatches is more about whether the team with the advantage can play advantage basketball rather than isolation basketball (spoiler: Jaylen Brown and the Celtics did not, and the Warriors are one championship richer for it.) In those finals, a brute force approach cost the Celtics multiple turnovers.

On turnovers: Memphis’ carelessness was arguably the single factor that cost them the play-in game. The Grizzlies turned the ball over on over 1 in every 5 possessions. While Memphis was a bottom-six team in the league in turnovers this season, that’s still a 33% jump from their regular season mark per Cleaning the Glass. Many of those turnovers came from bullheaded plays of the sort highlighted above.

Post Script

Looking ahead, it’s hard to know what lessons the play-in game holds for Golden State’s playoff series against the Houston Rockets. Behind Alperen Şengün and Steven Adams, Houston was one of only two teams that pounded the offensive glass more effectively than Memphis in the regular season. The Grizzlies pulverized the Warriors on the offensive glass, so perhaps the fact that the Warriors weathered that should give them some hope against the Rockets.

Perhaps. Houston had a top ten mark in the league on offensive turnovers per Cleaning the Glass. Although young, this team takes care of the ball. Golden State should not count on Memphis’ profligacy from the Rockets. On the other side, as good as Scottie Pippen Jr. was, Amen Thompson, Dillon Brooks, and Fred VanVleet have proven to be on a different level as perimeter defenders. I would be surprised if the Warriors brass aren’t already getting in the league office’s ear about the mauling that Steph Curry can expect.

Memphis was hot from three point range in the play-in game, but on only 26 attempts. While the Rockets aren’t a great shooting team (and don’t take very many threes, languishing near the bottom of the league), the Warriors have blown hot and cold as well. Over a seven game series, I would count on more hot nights from three for the Warriors than the Rockets and the volume difference alone makes that variance more of a swing factor for the Warriors than the Rockets.

Where there might be lessons from the Grizzlies matchup for the Warriors, it is likely in the high-level points of emphasis: limit transition opportunities and keep second chance points to a minimum. Gang rebounding will be key for Golden State. For a small team, they have been surprisingly robust on the defensive glass, helped by intelligent rebounders like Draymond, Podz, and Moses Moody.

The x-factor for me: I rate Steve Kerr more highly for in-series adjustments than Ime Udoka. Warriors in six.