Wait I thought Small ball was to the Warriors advantage???

[Wildcat67]

With all the excuses about Bogut being out, it's kinda weird, because we all know that the Spurs best bet to beat the Warriors is to stay big and keep them from playing their small ball lineup.

So the Warriors are missing Bogut, meaning they are forced to go small, which is supposed to be their best lineup.

If the Warriors want to play Bogut 35 minutes, that will only improve the Spurs chances as it slows the game down even more and keeps the Warriors best lineup off the floor or forces them into mismatch problems if they want to go small like what happened tonight.

The fact they didn't have Bogut only helped to expose that the Warriors won't be able to play their small lineup against the Spurs as they will get pounded on the glass, and if they do play Bogut we will just slow the game to a crawl and play Duncan more and have the advantage in that way.

So the Warriors fans, Kerr and Green can try to use Bogut being out as an excuse and a reason to feel good about the loss, but if anything all it did was expose their small ball lineup which is supposed to be their strength.

[Nathan89]

Small ball is advantage Spurs because then Diaw becomes an offensive threat which is something we need.

[All Mighty Janitor]

Bogut would allow them to mix it up some on defense. He would have helped them rebound and defend either LMA or Tim. That said, I am thoroughly impressed by our play against their so called best lineup (minus Iggy). I thought we would have to play more to their pace, but we played about as slow as we could have.

[TheGreatYacht]

Raymond Green thinking the rebound advantage was a fluke :lol
Midget ball :lol
Today's NBA :lol
"Tougher, bigger, stronger" :lol

[HarlemHeat37]

Iguodala's absence is very significant, tbh..

[All Mighty Janitor]

Iguodala's absence is very significant, tbh..
Iggy does A LOT for them. He stabilizes their bench. He's their best wing defender and facilitates ball movement very well. They couldn't run (at least not as much as they do) AND be an elite defense w/o him.

[dabom]

Iggy always get wrecked by Kawhi tbh...

[DMC]

Small ball favors the Warriors if small ball means up tempo. Otherwise it's just smaller guys playing the same half court sets.

[AFMadison]

Switching really kills their tempo. I was surprised out how well our bigs defended the perimeter

[Horry Hipcheck]

With all the excuses about Bogut being out, it's kinda weird, because we all know that the Spurs best bet to beat the Warriors is to stay big and keep them from playing their small ball lineup.

So the Warriors are missing Bogut, meaning they are forced to go small, which is supposed to be their best lineup.

If the Warriors want to play Bogut 35 minutes, that will only improve the Spurs chances as it slows the game down even more and keeps the Warriors best lineup off the floor or forces them into mismatch problems if they want to go small like what happened tonight.

The fact they didn't have Bogut only helped to expose that the Warriors won't be able to play their small lineup against the Spurs as they will get pounded on the glass, and if they do play Bogut we will just slow the game to a crawl and play Duncan more and have the advantage in that way.

So the Warriors fans, Kerr and Green can try to use Bogut being out as an excuse and a reason to feel good about the loss, but if anything all it did was expose their small ball lineup which is supposed to be their strength.

Small ball doesn't necessarily favor GS. It's perhaps their most devastating offensive lineup, sure, but only against teams that don't have the personnel to counter. The Spurs have Diaw in their small lineup, and he can cause problems for small teams on offense. As we saw tonight, the Spurs' small ball squad can win on the offensive glass.

Bogut helps GS defensively but also helps set screens for Curry to launch from deep - something he struggled to do tonight (not to mention that he frequently missed when he did manage to get open long enough.) A prime example was the possession where Curry pulled up from three with Danny all over him, and Green blocked the shot. Curry corralled the ball and drove from the wing to the top of the key, with Green in pursuit and Diaw providing help defense in the lane. Bogut's purpose there would have been setting a screen for Curry to get into the lane, but instead he kept running into walls, disrupting his passing lanes and rhythm until he whipped a pass down low that was broken up and led to an outlet pass to Parker going the other way.

I liked seeing Danny on Curry instead of Leonard. Bogut's absence obviously helped immensely, but the defensive scheme feeds into a strategy to just make Curry work harder, not necessarily throw the best one on one defender at him. Green can, theoretically, chase Curry off the line and stay with him on the ball because Green doesn't need a lot of energy at the other end. His strength is in stretching the floor with his spot up three point shooting. Kawhi, meanwhile, can't chase Curry AND be the playmaker on offense for 40 minutes. He'll eventually wilt late and become more of a liability. Again, hypothetically.

We as fans worry about Pop showing Kerr his hand before the playoffs, but I think they may be on to something with these defensive assignments. CIA Pop would have left Duncan in as starter instead of responding to Kerr's smaller lineup. Now we have an idea of what might work against them when they have to go small.

[spurraider21]

diaw has been the spurs answer to small-ball for a while now, when he's playing well, things always look different

also, the spurs version of Aldridge who is actually a good defender is an elite small-ball 5. if he's assertive like he was today, GSW can't go small with Green at center, they'd have to play Bogut, which in turn slows them down and gives duncan minutes to patrol the paint

[BillMc]

Switching really kills their tempo. I was surprised out how well our bigs defended the perimeter


Small ball doesn't necessarily favor GS. It's perhaps their most devastating offensive lineup, sure, but only against teams that don't have the personnel to counter. The Spurs have Diaw in their small lineup, and he can cause problems for small teams on offense. As we saw tonight, the Spurs' small ball squad can win on the offensive glass.

Bogut helps GS defensively but also helps set screens for Curry to launch from deep - something he struggled to do tonight (not to mention that he frequently missed when he did manage to get open long enough.) A prime example was the possession where Curry pulled up from three with Danny all over him, and Green blocked the shot. Curry corralled the ball and drove from the wing to the top of the key, with Green in pursuit and Diaw providing help defense in the lane. Bogut's purpose there would have been setting a screen for Curry to get into the lane, but instead he kept running into walls, disrupting his passing lanes and rhythm until he whipped a pass down low that was broken up and led to an outlet pass to Parker going the other way.

I liked seeing Danny on Curry instead of Leonard. Bogut's absence obviously helped immensely, but the defensive scheme feeds into a strategy to just make Curry work harder, not necessarily throw the best one on one defender at him. Green can, theoretically, chase Curry off the line and stay with him on the ball because Green doesn't need a lot of energy at the other end. His strength is in stretching the floor with his spot up three point shooting. Kawhi, meanwhile, can't chase Curry AND be the playmaker on offense for 40 minutes. He'll eventually wilt late and become more of a liability. Again, hypothetically.

We as fans worry about Pop showing Kerr his hand before the playoffs, but I think they may be on to something with these defensive assignments. CIA Pop would have left Duncan in as starter instead of responding to Kerr's smaller lineup. Now we have an idea of what might work against them when they have to go small.


diaw has been the spurs answer to small-ball for a while now, when he's playing well, things always look different

also, the spurs version of Aldridge who is actually a good defender is an elite small-ball 5. if he's assertive like he was today, GSW can't go small with Green at center, they'd have to play Bogut, which in turn slows them down and gives duncan minutes to patrol the paint

Great points guys. I'll say again I was surprised how well LMA moved out on the perimeter guarding Curry. LMA can be a fantastic small ball 5.

[DenialTwist]

Iggy is what makes their small ball death lineup unstoppable but without Bogut's illegal ass moving screens Curry can't get easier shots. Also Bogut helps them with the rebounding which they had a problem with against the Spurs.

[SAGirl]

Small ball favors the Warriors if small ball means up tempo. Otherwise it's just smaller guys playing the same half court sets.
:tu good point. They force a lot of TO and run with small ball. They got a few tonight.

[Chinook]

Iggy is what makes their small ball death lineup unstoppable but without Bogut's illegal ass moving screens Curry can't get easier shots. Also Bogut helps them with the rebounding which they had a problem with against the Spurs.

Iggy gives them better play-making and finishing, but they will be worse shooting. And he gives them a more solid guy for the Spurs to hide Parker. There is no reason at all to be afraid of Iggy in the post. He'd become the designated Kawhi defender, and I think he'd do a good job. Wouldn't change Barnes not being able to guard Diaw or Green not being able to guard LMA.

[Horse]

Iggy does A LOT for them. He stabilizes their bench. He's their best wing defender and facilitates ball movement very well. They couldn't run (at least not as much as they do) AND be an elite defense w/o him.

I thought their bench outplayed ours so I don't see iggy giving them any more than they got last night.

[dbestpro]

First step travel, and moving screens with excellent set shooters are the recipe to the Warriors success. Thought it was funny Kerr complained about Green's travel when it seems to be part of the Warrior's offense.

[dbestpro]

bogut is a duncan killer

Bobans eat Boguts for breakfast.

[dbestpro]

Iguodala's absence is very significant, tbh..

If Manu does not force his passes then his presence is just as significant.

[All Mighty Janitor]

I thought their bench outplayed ours so I don't see iggy giving them any more than they got last night.
Just because their bench out played ours doesn't mean they couldn't have been better. He makes good decisions and could have helped them score when they had droughts. His defense wouldn't have made a difference though, because we didn't really play through Kawhi (he would have started in the small ball lineup).

[All Mighty Janitor]

If Manu does not force his passes then his presence is just as significant.

[HarlemHeat37]

If Manu does not force his passes then his presence is just as significant.

If Manu had missed this game, half this forum(at least) would have used it as an excuse:lol

If you look back at the first game, half the forum used Tim's absence as an excuse, despite Duncan being largely useless in this matchup..

Just saying, we're all happy about the W, but no need to be hypocrites..

[TD 21]

Iguodala's absence is very significant, tbh..

He is, but the OP makes a good point.

Starting their third best three-point shooter (Rush), with their other four starters, in theory, should have made them all the more difficult to guard. I know it's only one game and they have a litany of excuses, but still.

Had they lost a shootout, the Bogut/Ezeli losses would have been a more viable excuse. Granted, they got bludgeoned on the glass without them.


Despite the narrative, I actually don't think the Warriors are a particularly difficult match-up for the Spurs. What makes them so difficult is how good they are in a general sense, but specifically speaking, now that the Spurs have the type of fourth wing they needed, they're better equipped to play small ball.

[sasaint]

Small ball favors the Warriors if small ball means up tempo. Otherwise it's just smaller guys playing the same half court sets.

Excellent point. We didn't beat them at small ball as much as we beat them at patient ball.