With seven minutes left in the third quarter of Game 2, Maxi Kleber hit a 3 to stretch Dallas’ lead to 15. With Golden State running out of time to mount a comeback, Coach Steve Kerr took a timeout and went for what seemed like a final roll of the dice: the Poole Party lineup.1 Klay Thompson scored on a tough pull up on the next possession, followed by a Luka Doncic turnover and a Jordan Poole layup. It looked like the tide could be turning, but Draymond Green picked up his fifth foul on a reckless closeout and a minute in, the Poole Party was over. The Warriors thus found themselves in a tenuous position midway through the third quarter, down 79-68.
A big part of why the Warriors small ball lineups have been so effective over the years is Draymond’s ability to shore up the defense while at the 5. Even if the Poole Party defense isn’t as great as the Death Lineup and Hamptons 5 Lineup of yore2, it has been good enough to allow its offensive prowess to shine. Over 160 playoff possessions, that lineup has allowed 110 points per 100, on par with Cleveland’s sixth best regular season defense and certainly good enough given that it has scored 127 points per 100.
All of which is to say: give Kevon Looney his laurels. Looney came in for Draymond at the six minute mark of the third quarter and over the next 12 minutes (until Draymond subbed back in for Looney), the Warriors held Dallas to just 15 points. The offense came together on the other end and that 11 point deficit was a seven point lead by the time Draymond checked back in. Looney’s career-high 21 points helped, but his defense - particularly in that precarious third quarter period - was the X-factor for Golden State in Game 2.
Some of it owed to Dallas’ discombobulated offense once Looney came in for Draymond. Dallas’ guards spent much of the first half hunting for Jordan Poole and Steph Curry on switches. While the Warriors had a measure of success with their high tag defense (more on that later), Dallas’ offense was still humming up to that point. The Mavericks then went away from what had worked and kept seeking out Looney on switches. Instead of getting a step on him and driving into the paint, Luka settled for a couple of step backs instead. I maintain that that’s an outcome the Warriors will live with, particularly if Looney can keep putting in solid contests with both arms.
This next possession especially stuck with me: Luke calls up a screen from Maxi Kleber, but looks unsure of what to do for the moment when it isn’t clear if the defender coming up with Kleber is Looney or Steph. When it ends up being Steph, the very defender Luka has been seeking out, Luke instead meanders and passes off to Spencer Dinwiddie.
That possession ended in a missed Josh Green 3. Coach Jason Kidd expressed some displeasure after the third quarter about how many empty 3s the Mavericks chucked up in the third quarter. Underlying that criticism was the process and which 3s Dallas took; Josh Green is by far the worst shooter in the five man lineup above. The Warriors will take Green and Frank Ntilikina jacking up bailout shots, no matter how open.
Back to Kevon Looney: It’s easy to say that the Mavericks should have been taking him off the dribble instead of settling, but Looney is surprisingly spry defending in space. I would take him as a perimeter defender over both Rudy Gobert and DeAndre Ayton, the two centers Dallas faced in previous rounds. Watch Looney match Spencer Dinwiddie’s drive step-for-step here:
Again, Dallas looks lost there. When Maxi Kleber cuts through to the weakside corner, Otto Porter stays near the rim as a second line of defense behind Looney. Kleber cuts back across at precisely the wrong time; stay in the corner and there’s a catch-and-shoot opportunity off the Dinwiddie drive. Instead of being forced to zone up between Kleber in the corner and Green on the wind, Steph is able to both show an extra body and narrow the passing window (eventually forcing a turnover).
Like the other members of this Golden State core, Kevon Looney has oodles of court awareness and basketball smarts. Many bigs getting back in transition make a beeline for their own basket to be in box out and rebounding position. Looney, recognizing the threat of the trailing Reggie Bullock here, manages to get out for a great shot contest instead:
Looney wasn’t the only Warriors role player to have a big game. Otto Porter’s impact went beyond his handy 11-7-4-1-1 box score line (on perfect shooting). Coach Kerr’s decision to sub Porter in for Klay Thompson with 4ish minutes to go in the third quarter proved a masterstroke. The Steph-Poole-Wiggins-Porter-Looney lineup was an intriguing one in the regular season in limited minutes. Over 164 possessions, that lineup outscored opponents by 26 points per 100, with offensive and defensive numbers not too dissimilar from the Poole Party lineup. Porter has 2 inches on Thompson; that added size adds more rebounding heft and a little more oomph on shot contests.
I can’t know for sure, but I wonder if the Porter substitution was Coach Kerr playing some game theory with the Mavericks. Dallas had Dorian Finney-Smith attached to Klay Thompson for a lot of the game, but the Warriors coaches might have anticipated that Dallas would shift one of the weaker Dallas defenders (Luka or Dinwiddie) onto Porter once he came in. On this possession, Porter wipes Finney-Smith out on a screen, with Luka completely lost:
More Porter smarts: He seems to signal for Jordan Poole to fill the weakside corner on this Steph iso. When Poole doesn’t do so, Porter does it himself. The relocation gets Luka and Dinwiddie looking like the Keystone Cops, resulting in a Looney dunk at the buzzer.
That awareness of where he needs to be has stood Porter in good stead this season. This is textbook stuff from Porter, zoning up between two weakside spacers, and he is rewarded with a steal:
A word on Jordan Poole
My favorite play from Game 2 was this double drag set that the Warriors ran for Jordan Poole.
Maxi Kleber defends that well, corralling Poole’s drive and waving his right arm all around Poole’s passing window. But the skill from Poole is breathtaking, with a behind the back hesi dribble going straight into the dropoff to Looney with his off hand. Oh, the spice level!
Jordan Poole’s north-south speed takes the Warriors offense to another level. Five of his 10 shot attempts in Game 2 were layups (all made). The question will always be whether Poole can survive on defense. Steph Curry plays well within the Warriors’ defensive system and has improved as an on-ball defender, but Poole still presents a tasty target for opposing ball handlers.
An encouraging sign on that front: Poole’s execution of the Warriors’ high tag defense. This was something that the Warriors deployed during those Cavaliers-Warriors showdowns when LeBron James would repeatedly seek out Steph on picks. Essentially, the screener defender (the one being hunted) jumps out early to tag the ball handler, before swiftly recovering back onto his man, thereby not giving up the switch. For more, go watch Eric Apricot’s breakdown of how the Warriors have used the high tag in this series when Luka Doncic has sought out Steph on a pick.
The Warriors have had Jordan Poole do something similar when Luka or Jalen Brunson have sought him on a switch. And so far, the results have been promising.
Dallas will likely have counters in Game 3, including just repeatedly screening and forcing Poole to execute over and over again. On to the next game then.
The latest iteration of the Warriors’ fearsome small ball lineups with Draymond Green at the 5, along with Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson, Jordan Poole, and Steph Curry.
Subbing in Jordan Poole for Andre Iguodala/Harrison Barnes/Kevin Durant, not to mention a diminished Klay Thompson after two serious injuries, will do that.
Nice work Rohit!