Warriors Must Make Adjustments for Game 3

A missed dunk, twenty-seven missed 3 point shots, an errant turnover as the clock wound down that could have sealed the game. It’s easy to blame these singular moments for the Warriors 93 – 95 OT Game 2 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the bigger picture is clear: for the Golden State Warriors to win tonight, they need to make some pretty significant strides on both sides of the ball.

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And it starts with offense. Really all series, the Warriors have not been running their signature ball movement and properly spaced-O that was second in the league in efficiency. They had only 16 assists in Game 2, or 5 more than LeBron James. They needed overtime to just get to 93 points, a far cry from when the Dubs would regularly have that number by the end of the 3^rd quarter. Credit goes to the Cavs’ defense, a very average team during the regular season, they have ratcheted the pressure up significantly in the playoffs.

To get back on track, the Warriors obviously need Steph Curry to not have the worst game of the playoffs again. That will obviously help, but Curry needs to be more selective with his shots, and find teammates. Several times Curry used his pump-fake to get multiple defenders in the air, but he didn’t have that window that he usually creates for a wide open shot, the defenders were there enough to contest and Curry missed. A pump-fake and then a pass would work wonders here to keep the defense guessing, but also take advantage of a misaligned defense and hopefully find an open man.

Klay Thompson did an outstanding job of using his height advantage to attack Mathew Dellavedova, but the Aussie did a great job defending Curry. But there are ways for Curry to exploit Dellavedova as well. The Warriors need to run more pick-and-roll with Curry and Draymond Green or Harrison Barnes. Both of these guys can create enough room for Steph to shoot behind the pick or create in space if Cleveland doubles Curry in these scenarios. Forcing Dellavedova to chase Curry more often through these big bodies should tire him out and give Curry more open looks.

And Thompson needs to be in attack mode no matter who is guarding him. Unless James slides over to corral Klay, he should have a decent mismatch at all times. I still don’t quite understand some of the shots Thompson has attempted in these playoffs: jumpers on one foot as he falls toward the basket, tough contested layups. In the regular season, he makes the right pass, the Warriors reset. The team as a whole has been pressing in almost every game. They need to relax and remember what got them here. Now going out and doing it on the road in the NBA Finals in a pivotal Game 3; easier said than done.

Jun 7, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard

Klay Thompson

(11) reacts after a play during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game two of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Defensively, the Warriors got in the most trouble when the Cavs would run pick-and-roll with James and whoever Curry was guarding, mainly Iman Shumpert. Curry was hedging the screen on LeBron, chasing him to the spot before Curry and Andre Iguodala would switch back. But it had pretty bad results. Shumpert made a wide open three, Iguodala and Curry bumped in to each other several times trying to switch back giving James the wiggle room he needed to shoot, attack or pass.

In this scenario, Curry needs to worry less about hedging James and just getting back to his man ASAP. The slight annoyance that Curry provides isn’t worth the open man he leaves.

Beyond this small adjustment, the Warriors have played OK defense. Holding a team to 95 points is usually a win for the Warriors. One key will be their small ball lineup stepping up. Tristan Thompson was -21 and James Jones was +22 meaning the spacing that Jones was creating really hurt the smaller unit for the Warriors. This comes down to shutting down passing lanes and limiting bad switches on defense. Cleveland will be a lot less reluctant to go small if lineups with Jones in them is a plus for the Cavs. The Warriors need to exploit when they go small by forcing turnovers leading to easy runouts. And maybe have Iguodala finish the dunk this time.

Though many thought the Warriors to be the clear favorite in the series, both teams could be up 2-0 right now. Golden State must get back in a flow on offense and do a much better job dictating pace tonight in Cleveland. They can’t settle in to the LeBron James isolation show. It kills any offensive rhythm the Warriors can build and limits possessions, making missed shots even more detrimental. Defensively Golden State needs to pressure the ball at a significantly higher level and get to more 50-50 balls and limit offensive rebounds.

Last time the Warriors needed a big adjustment they put Andrew Bogut on Tony Allen. We’ll see what the Golden State have cooked up tonight.

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