How the Warriors Defense Won Game 5
Walling off the rim, showing help early on drives, and forcing low-percentage step backs.
48% of Dallas’ shots came from three point range in their Game 4 victory per Cleaning the Glass. That number saw a negligible change to 46% in the series-ending Game 5 loss. The Mavericks shot well on those shots in both games, 48% in Game 4 and 43% in Game 5. The big difference between Games 4 and 5? After attempting nearly a third of their attempts at the rim in Game 4, only 7% of Dallas’ shots came at the rim in Game 5. Golden State forced a whopping 43% of Dallas’ shots to come from 4 to 14 feet (think floater-range, or roughly the distance from the free throw line to the rim). The rise of the 3 notwithstanding, rim attempts are the best value proposition for an offense. By sealing off the rim, Golden State punched their ticket to the NBA finals. Here’s how they did it.
Let’s start in the first quarter. Although Golden State found a plausible counter to Dallas’ solution to the 3-2 zone, it seemed reasonable to expect the Warriors to adjust their defense some more. Somebody with Second Spectrum data access should verify this, but it looked to me like the Warriors did not play a single possession of zone defense in the entire first half of Game 5. They started the game by blitzing Luka Doncic on the pick and roll.
Luka managed to split the blitz the next time down, but watch the Warriors’ back line defenders here for a sign of things to come:
Draymond Green is planted all the way over in the lane helping off the strong side corner, as is Klay Thompson. All three Warriors defenders are in the paint for Luka’s drive.
The next Mavericks possession was even more instructive. Watch Draymond Green call out an off ball switch with Steph Curry here (getting Steph to switch onto Dorian Finney-Smith in the corner when he exchanges places with Jalen Brunson). That keeps Draymond as the weak side low man and in position to either bring a double or challenge Luka at the rim if he gets around Kevon Looney.
Although Luka makes the fadeaway, that is a process win for the Warriors and a sign of things to come. There are no good answers for Luka Doncic, but a mid range fadeaway over Kevon Looney’s 7’4” wingspan is the closest thing to one. Moreover, get the timing right and that contested shot ends in a block instead:
Again from a semi-transition possession early in the first, keep your eyes on Looney and Draymond:
Not too dissimilar from that possession where Luka split two defenders above; Draymond completely ignores Jalen Brunson on the wing and Kevon Looney stops shy of getting back on Dwight Powell. There isn’t a path to the rim for Luka.
Go back to Golden State’s Game 2 victory. Dallas shot 47% from three in that game, with over half their shots coming from behind the arc. There was a lesson for the Warriors there; get your offense right and there is a path to victory even if Dallas is raining fire from three. There are two equally key tenets of Moreyball: threes and layups/dunks. The Warriors conceded one of those, but committed to taking away the other, allowing their offense would ride the home crowd to victory. And boy were the Warriors locked in and committed to executing that defensive plan.
The Mavericks run a Spain pick and roll here to get Steph switched onto Luka in an unexpected way, but watch Andrew Wiggins once Maxi Kleber rolls into the lane. Wiggins ignores Kleber’s subsequent cut to the weak side corner and plants himself as a second line of defense in the paint. Once Luka splits Looney and Steph, Wiggins is there to force a tougher shot:
The margins are incredibly fine; on a similar play in the fourth quarter, Wiggins followed Kleber ever so slightly before committing to the help. That delay ended up the difference, with Luka getting a layup. Watch Draymond on the bench yelling at Wiggins after the bucket to plant himself in the lane earlier:
When the Mavericks didn’t have a cutter gift the Warriors an opportunity to plant someone as a safety, Golden State had the low man show early help. Watch Draymond Green start shading into the lane here even before Luka gets a step on Kevon Looney. That gets Draymond into position to put in a contest without fouling:
With Jalen Brunson above the hash mark and dragging his man, Klay Thompson up towards the arc, Draymond also frantically points Klay to help on Dorian Finney-Smith in the corner.
That early weak side rotation was a hallmark of the Warriors’ defense in this game. They deployed it against all of the Mavericks’ guard trifecta, whether Luka, Brunson, or Spencer Dinwiddie.
It isn’t all on the low man there; executing this defense requires the other weak side defender (Steph in the clip above, Klay in the one above that) to zone up between the two weak side shooters and gum up any kick out from the driver. That starts early. Watch how low Klay Thompson is sinking in anticipation of Moses Moody’s rotation into the paint here:
Either Brunson executes a tough wrap around pass to Dorian Finney-Smith on the wing there, or he risks a turnover to Klay if he aims for Davis Bertans in the weak side corner.
It wasn’t all rote though; the Warriors tweaked the coverage on the fly based on the personnel. Klay Thompson is leaning in the paint early as the low man here, but once Nemanja Bjelica sufficiently corrals Dinwiddie, Klay actually retreats back on to his shooter, with Jordan Poole bringing the help instead. Klay’s man, Maxi Kleber is a greater threat from the corner (44% in the playoffs) than Poole’s man, Frank Ntilikina, is from anywhere.
Golden State was smart not to overreact even when Ntilikina made a couple of threes.
Dallas had just as many drives in Game 5 as it did in Game 4, they just met with more resistance. See that happen enough times and a player’s will to drive gets sapped. That’s how you end up with Luka resorting to a step-back three on multiple occasions when he had Nemanja Bjelica or Kevon Looney isolated on the perimeter.
And that’s where the Warriors cashed in. Those step back jumpers, a middling proposition at the best of times, get harder on tired legs with minimal rest. Luka made two of them during that furious third quarter rally, but subsequently missed two more when Dallas had a chance to build on its momentum. Dallas took 19 pull up threes in Game 5 per NBA Advanced Stats, more than in any other game in the series. Luka shoots 35% on those shots, a value proposition the Warriors could live with (there are no good answers, but…)
Warriors defensive guru Mike Brown leaves for a head coaching job with the Sacramento Kings after this season. Regardless of what happens in the Finals, he has had a heck of a playoff run.