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Kendra AndrewsGAME
NOW IS NOVEMBER 20 AND the golden empire warriors in the midst of a surprising rivalry against 3-13 Houston rocket. In theory, the Warriors should run away in this match, against a team that is much younger, less experienced, and much more fun to lose. When 4:46 was left in the first round, the Warriors made the first substitution. They are up 13. They finished the first half 40-28. The vent is on.
Until it is not. The Rockets storm hit 13-0 to open the second half. At halftime, the Warriors, inconclusive on the road, were four points ahead. It’s a situation they’ve been in all seasons — Stephen’s Curry and the starters took the lead, only to have the bench give it up.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr and his staff returned to the coach’s office in the center of the Toyota Center to discuss the changes they needed to make in the second half.
With an almost brand new bench from last season, Kerr has tried to be patient, trying to avoid making any hasty staffing adjustments. But now, in the windowless cupboard of the room attached to the guest dressing room, he knew his time was up.
Kerr told her employees an idea — an idea they’d discussed before but haven’t implemented yet. They tried to find a way for their young players to imitate what Blue Draymond do on court. To establish Jordan Poole like Green. To communicate on defense like Green. To set the screen as Green. But with the Western Conference quickly overtaking them, Kerr knew they could no longer afford an impressionist. They need Draymond Green.
“Okay,” Kerr told his staff, “we have to get Draymond into that second unit.”
The idea is not without risk. Warriors starting lineup — Green, Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney — is the most effective formation in basketball. Breaking it can easily backfire.
Instead, the move does more than stabilize a rickety bench unit. It stabilizes a season Warriors is on the verge of.
“Nobody does what Draymond does,” Kerr told ESPN. “We want to teach that and we try, but Draymond has an innate intelligence about the game, an innate sense of the game comparable to any player I have ever met. … You cannot replace Draymond. “
9 DAYS AFTER Golden State’s game in Houston, they returned to Texas, this time in Dallas for a Western Conference Finals rematch with the Mavericks. Warriors are at 3-1 since the Draymond Green experiment started.
The Warriors will lose that match, but there’s something far more striking than the final scoreline: Every Warriors starter has a plus-minus. And all but one of their substitutes have positive points. For the first time this season, the second half really put the Warriors on the winning side.
“Two weeks ago, we couldn’t say that,” Green told ESPN. “We can’t get close to that.”
Consisting of a group of players who barely played against each other, the second unit spent weeks searching for any kind of identity.
Donte DiVincenzo and Blue JaMychal was brought to San Francisco for the summer instead Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr.. James is wise returned after 18 months out with a meniscus injury. Jonathan Kuminga and Moses mood asked to take on much larger roles. And after a breakout season, Poole is expected to dominate them all.
They flounder – it sucks.
In the 16 games before the swap — except for Golden State’s game in New Orleans on November 4 when four of its starting five games rested and any junk time — the Warriors played 261 minutes. with two or less people starting on the floor. In those minutes, Golden State was over 63 points, a number that, according to ESPN Stats & Information’s Matt Williams, is more identifiable with the teams rising for Victor Wembanyama.
“The beauty of the game,” Kerr said, “is that five people have to click and it just takes us a while to make the different combinations.”
TWO MONTHS YEAR ago, Green is the villain in Golden State after leaked hands-on footage of a brawl in it he punched Poole in the face and the fallout that followed.
But since the November game in Houston, he’s probably the answer to the Warriors’ biggest problem.
In the nine games since, Green’s most-used subs include Wiggins, DiVincenzo, Poole and Anthony Lamb. The second most used feature is DiVincenzo, Poole and Lamb, with Kuminga in place of Wiggins. These two formations respectively have a plus of 5 after 26 minutes and a plus of 14 after 10 minutes.
The quartet of Green, DiVincenzo, Poole and Lamb have played together for 47 minutes since Nov. 20. During that time period, the Warriors have added 16.4 when those four players share the floor – just a little further away. The ratio of the starting lineup is plus-18.7.
“The idea for synergies is that you want to hit each group’s comfort zone, where they can support each other and find different sets or actions that they like,” says Kerr. “We could always do it… just this year it took longer due to the nature of our squad and the way our season started.”
First and perhaps most importantly, he transformed one of the worst defenders of the dynasty.
The bench units with the Green as of November 20 have only allowed 93.8 points out of 100 possessions in their 99 minutes together, almost 17 points better than before November 20. Especially. , the Green-Wiggins-DiVincenzo-Poole-Lamb team strangled the opponent, allowing for a ridiculous 85.0 points per 100 possessions.
“[My priority has been to] make sure that unit is on the defensive,” Green said. “As a second unit, your job is not to go out and build a lead, your job is to maintain the lead. And in any case where the first unit can’t take the lead, it’s your job to slow down and settle the game. That’s my focus with it — and trying to help that unit play as many fouls as we can.”
Offense has also begun its rhythm.
Poole told ESPN: “Early in the season when I’m out there as a main playmaker, that’s how I’m protected. “…With Draymond in it, I can attack more [with scoring]. … Now with the second unit and the spins that we have, if need be, I know where I can go to make it.
Green’s time in the second unit also unlocked Kuminga, who since November 20 has nearly doubled his points per game, averaging 8.4 points on 52.3% and 4. 1 re-enable after 20 minutes per game.
Kerr called Kuminga’s performance against the Mavericks — 14 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks — the best game he had ever seen Kuminga play. A few weeks later in Utah, a large 20-year-old man delivered a clean block on Jordan Clarkson at the end of the fourth inning, and was fouled.
As for the risk? It did not materialize. The five starters have played together more since the switch, going from 13.8 minutes per game to 16.3 minutes. Their net performance has dropped from a plus of 25.2 points per 100 possessions to a plus of 18.7 points which is still absurd.
“Get Draymond out of [Curry] maybe not as harmful as [as] five or six years ago when we really wanted to take out the opponent with those two for the whole round,” said Kerr. I’m more organized, and Steph is just playing the game of his mind. As long as those two things happen, we’ll be fine.”
For his part, Green sees his role as double.
“First, try to slow down the device,” he said. “That unit shouldn’t be playing as fast as the first, it should be more methodical. It should be more established. It should be more patterned movements, as opposed to random movements and attacks. random attack. And then number two, and most importantly, make sure that unit is defending.”
And promising early returns. The Warriors are 6-4, including a seven-point win over the Rockets, since the switch.
“Draymond has everything to do with the success of our team,” said Kerr. “This guy played really well, the whole game. He captured that. He saw it on both ends, the way he pushed the ball in transitions, his screen setup. He saw the ring and then defended everyone. He understood what our boys organized. Draymond was an incredible basketball player.”
