Thinking back on Tuesday night’s entertaining Phoenix Suns win over the Golden State Warriors, two plays especially stood out to me. In the second quarter, Steph Curry got an isolation on Deandre Ayton, only to have his three point attempt blocked.
Later in the game, the Steph-Draymond Green pick and roll engineered another Steph iso on Ayton. This time after backing the ball out, Steph attempted to feed Draymond in the post, but only managed one of the Warriors’ 22 turnovers.
This felt like a game in the playoffs, partly because it was a showdown between the league’s two hottest teams. It reminded me a bit of Game 7 in the 2016 Finals, when the Warriors abandoned some of their signature movement, cutting, and off-ball screening and got bogged down in isolation basketball.1 As with that game, it didn’t prove a winning strategy here.
That is in large part because the Phoenix Suns have been elite at defending isolation possessions this season. The Suns give up only 0.78 points per possession on isos per NBA Synergy stats, the second best in the entire league.2 Teams are learning fast that isolations don’t present an efficient proposition; only the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks yield a smaller percentage of their defensive plays to isos than the Suns (5.4% per Synergy), and they give up a lot more points on those plays.
In fairness, Ayton may have not been the best illustration of the Suns’ iso defense prowess. He still gives up 1 point per possession on such plays, but the signs are there. As for the Suns’ other centers? JaVale McGee and Frank Kaminsky have yielded 0.50 and 0.73 ppp respectively. Good luck trying to exploit those switches. Watch Landry Shamet’s defensive stand here:
Shamet gently sits on Harden’s left to get him leaning right, then contests the step-back without fouling or getting in Harden’s landing space.
Steph Curry and Harden are two of the league’s most efficient isolation scorers. During this win streak, the Suns have beaten nearly all the league’s offenses that thrive the most on isos: Brooklyn, Memphis, Denver, Cleveland, and Golden State.
This has helped drive the Suns’ half court defense, third best in the league per Cleaning the Glass and surrendering just 0.86 points per possession.3 The Suns’ transition offense hasn’t been great, with opponents scoring 1.3 points per possession, but that half court stinginess has carried them to the third best defensive mark in the league.
All this will only matter more in the playoffs when mismatch, iso offense in the half court assumes greater relevance.
The 22 turnovers may have played some part in forcing their hand there.
Trailing only the spunky Cleveland Cavaliers! An early-season joy has been watching guards get a switch on Evan Mobley and go absolutely nowhere with it. Mobley is the goods.
To the extent there is any luck there, it might be that opponents are shooting just 32% on corner threes against the Suns. That number will eventually tick up, but the Suns have given themselves a healthy cushion to absorb that.