Golden State Warriors’ offense
The Warriors have a far more complicated offensive style, one that’s both frustrating and aesthetically pleasing.
At its worst, the offense often appears far too random – that a bunch of people got together, went to their local court, then proceeded to get their cardio in by running around without any real system.
Subsequently, they don’t find those easy open shots, often compounding issues by producing unnecessary, sometimes game-breaking turnovers. This frustration often leads to calls, both from fans and the media, for Steve Kerr to run more traditional plays like Stephen Curry-Draymond Green pick-and-roll.
But at its best, it’s the most pleasing basketball a fan can watch. More importantly, for an opposition team, it might be the most complicated and toughest to guard in NBA history. While Phoenix (and other teams for that matter) may have beautiful ball movement, the Warriors retain a unique style of ball and player movement.
So, just as Dallas had become accustomed to, and actually conquered the Suns pick-and-roll style, they’re now challenged to adjust to something completely different.
On-ball screens, off-ball/stagger screens, split actions from the mid-post area, constant player movement combined with two of the best three-point shooters of all time – it’s simply a system that requires an incredible amount of physical and mental energy to defend.
Perhaps even more so though, it requires a buy-in and communication from all five players on the floor.
One miscommunication, one missed assignment and it’s an open layup at the rim. Despite what was undoubtedly an enormous preparation from Kidd, the Mavericks’ defense broke down too many times in game one.
https://twitter.com/warriors/status/1527093387798540288
Golden State didn’t even shoot overly well from three (34.5%), yet found so many avenues to the basket from within the arc. To be fair to the Mavericks, they made adjustments and overcame the Phoenix challenge.
Time will tell if they can do the same against the Warriors, but it’s fair to acknowledge this is a completely different task entirely.