Watched the first 3 quarters quickly(so might not be 100% accurate, but close enough), some notes:
The bad/ugly
- Tony Parker got completely destroyed on defense.
The Warriors had 12 possessions that directly involved Parker as the primary defender, and they scored on 10 of them. They constantly looked for the mismatch, too, as Iguodala, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Livingston each had a post-up play vs. Parker that led to a score. Outside of transition points and broken plays, Curry did the majority of his damage with Parker as the defender, whether chasing him through screens, switching, etc.
- Tony Parker's offense
The Spurs had 10 possessions of Parker drive/kick, p&r or variation of an ISO and only scored on 2 of them, along with multiple turnovers. Parker's offense is essential to beating the Warriors, though, you can't just kill them with post plays. He's having a great season, so far, but was really overmatched, tonight.
They aren't going to beat this team without Tony being able to put pressure on them.
- Lamarcus Aldridge's offense
Out of the 8 possessions that were Aldridge post-up or variations of a 1 on 1, the Spurs only scored on 2 of them, and turned the ball over several times, as well.
He struggled against both Green and Bogut in the post, he had trouble moving either guy off their spot. To be fair, he didn't get a chance to get going in the pick&pop game, as his only clean look early on was a semi-open 3 from the baseline.
- Broken plays and transition
The Warriors scored 5 times on "broken plays/loose balls". More damaging to the Spurs was the Warriors scoring 32 points off turnovers. The turnovers were the biggest problem for the Spurs in this game, and it clearly set the tone, too. The Spurs got destroyed in transition, which is what the Warriors do to everybody, but you would expect the Spurs to be more composed.
- No rim protection
The Spurs typically allow 39 PPG in the paint. Tonight, they allowed 52 points in the paint, and that's with the Warriors' starters not even playing in the 4th quarter. Golden State scored on 6 backdoor cuts and had way more layups than the Spurs should ever concede.
The good
- Spurs scored on 9 of the 14 post/ISO plays for Kawhi. It didn't work early on, with 2 turnovers, but it was pretty clearly the most reliable option as the game progressed. The Spurs clearly struggled with entry passes, though, not just to Kawhi, but to all the post players.
It's a work in progress, but it's something they're gonna have to keep working on and hopefully perfect by the playoffs.
- The Spurs had success going to David West. He scored on 2 of his post/ISOs and the other led to an open Danny Green 3.
That's pretty much it for the good
Defensively, Danny Green was primarily asked to be the help defender for a large chunk of his minutes, picking up 2 fouls on clean blocks. Klay Thompson was 1-4 vs. him(FG allowed being the backdoor cut), and he only defended Curry on 2 possessions(no shots attempted), for whatever reason.
Kawhi didn't play his best game defensively, from an individual standpoint, but played pretty well as a help defender. He got beat twice by Klay Thompson on backdoor cuts/drives off the catch, and the Warriors did a good job of hurting him in the matchup Curry with screens, as expected. It was the opposite of last year's April game vs. the Warriors, where he cemented his DPOY.
Last edited by HarlemHeat37; 01-26-2016 at 04:34 AM.
good write up... dont understand why green wasn't the primary defender on curry
I think the Spurs went into the game for the purpose of feeling the Warriors out. Pop obviously didn't show his hand (taking Kawhi out as he was getting hot, Green not on Curry, etc).
Now, I'm not suggesting that if Pop played his cards, we beat the Warriors. They are just simply the better team. Younger, their entire core is at their peaks right now, and maybe even deeper. But Pop might figure our only chance to beat them in a series is to blindside them with a gameplan and matchups they haven't seen and aren't prepared for.
We'll have to figure out some gimmick, because we're over matched on paper.
Also, when the Spurs weren't busy turning the ball over, they got their usual looks, which is encouraging, I suppose..
The problem is that none of the primary handlers were able to withstand the Warriors' swarming and pressure..Manu wasn't too bad with the turnovers, but his history with taking care of the ball is well do ented
Parker had 3 turnovers in 19 minutes, Kawhi had 3 turnovers, Mills had 3 turnovers in 16 minutes, and Simmons had 4 turnovers, too..
IIRC, the Warriors aren't even particularly good at forcing turnovers..
simmons looked wildly out of control the whole time, like he was just excited to be out there against a big time opponent
mills was just awful in every way. he was really nervous with the ball, his turnovers were largely unforced, and his defense was horrendous as usual, though he's cute when he hustles and play full court press
And that's exactly why I'm against any kind post-centric offense against them. Yes, it can work in stretches, but it wouldn't be sustainable over a playoff series. It'd get swarmed to death.
But then, I don't see any other offensive strat that can work. Our size and length is our advantage. We used to have the PnR advantage over them when Raymond was coming off the bench and Parker was younger, but that's not the case anymore, obviously.
would help if aldridge didnt play like a pussy like he did today
Ya, Patty was horrible, particularly defensively, too..the numbers don't look too bad, because his assignments missed, but most of the looks were good..
Also, waaayyyy too many defensive miscommunications, which is not something we usually see with the Spurs. It seemed like every time the Warriors posted up vs. a mismatch, they had an open cutter under the basket. Livingston scored 3 FGs where he was wide open after a cut or in transition. Very poor execution on the double teams vs. mismatches.
Simmons missed several assignments, which is expected with his lack of experience, but it's inexcusable for the rest of them.
Dwest was a lone bright spot on offense, but I don't see many people commenting on his defense. He was lost all night, and led to a lot of those back door cuts.
I was going to, but tbh, I don't really expect West to bring anything on defense. He's a 4th big being asked to play the role of this year's #1 defensive big in the league(Duncan). We already knew he was a defensive liability. He won't/shouldn't be playing huge minutes in the playoffs, Inshallah, as long as he gives the Spurs nice stints vs. opposing benches.
Thank god it's only January. SPAM still a bit away
Harlem, the question to you is: Does TD make any difference in this game?
Also, thanks for the write up. It's not easy to re-watch a loss like this.
Duncan will have his problems vs. the Warriors and their style of play, but if we're comparing his potential impact compared to what we saw in tonight's game, then yes, he certainly would have made a difference..he's not worth 30 points, though
The Warriors wouldn't have had a layup drill with Tim out there, but the abundance of turnovers and poor offensive play for the Spurs wouldn't have changed(especially since Tim hasn't been looking too great on offense, lately, anyways)
Although, while I haven't been a fan of Duncan posting up or going to work the past 2 seasons, I'll still take him posting up anybody in a big game, rather than going to Aldridge, unfortunately..I don't care how old he is..
The Warriors toyed with the Spurs last February, too, IIRC, although that was when the Spurs were going through a rough patch(unlike tonight's game, where the Spurs entered on a hot streak)..the Spurs got them back in April with a blowout in SA, but who knows, maybe the Warriors weren't taking that game too seriously..they definitely had a reason to go hard tonight, with all the talk of the Spurs potentially being on their level..
I'm not going to overreact to 1 game, but regardless of the Warriors' dominance, I can't deny that it's discouraging that the Spurs couldn't put up a better fight than pretenders like the Cavs and Bulls..
TD's passing is also very much a key. I know West is a good passer but its not the same, nor has he played 37 or something games with LMA and just a lifetime almost with everyone else in that SL. He's not worth the 30 points, but maybe he prevents a few layups, maybe he makes a few entry passes that go in.Duncan will have his problems vs. the Warriors and their style of play, but if we're comparing his potential impact compared to what we saw in tonight's game, then yes, he certainly would have made a difference..he's not worth 30 points, though
The Warriors wouldn't have had a layup drill with Tim out there, but the abundance of turnovers and poor offensive play for the Spurs wouldn't have changed(especially since Tim hasn't been looking too great on offense, lately, anyways)
Although, while I haven't been a fan of Duncan posting up or going to work the past 2 seasons, I'll still take him posting up anybody in a big game, rather than going to Aldridge, unfortunately..I don't care how old he is..
I agree with you our problem is our backcourt, and that is the gods honest truth, but I don't think we get a beatdown of this magnitude.
The Spurs had many problems that went beyond the backcourt, tbh. The Warriors have the advantage in virtually every facet of this matchup, but there are 2 things in particular that cannot be fixed for the Spurs in this matchup, even with optimal strategy and execution:
- Curry is historically great, the best guard since Jordan
and
- Parker and Mills aren't going to become 6'3" by May
It will make the team better. How much better we will see in the end.
Pop got enough footage of everyone. I do agree he held out Kawhi when he was getting hot bc what was the point? He had reasons for everything, including leaving Simmons there to run wild. Simmons showed fire when the SL was lacking it, so it was a "CoJo" moment. Let's say Simmons earned that time, and from there Pop wanted enough footage to work with him to improve.
I thought Rasual played well, but can we see Pop play him? Its not the popular bench Anderson, since Anderson has already been benched. To play Rasual you have to bench somebody valuable.
Why leave Manu out there for that long is my only doubt. Maybe he thought we make a run with Manu, Mils make a few 3s. But obviously it was a disaster.
This fact just by itself may prevent us from reaching a meeting with GSW. It was already a warning light when against the Clippers both Chris Paul and Austin Rivers dominated Parker and Mills.
Maybe Parker can become 6'3'' wide...
I kept saying that Simmons developing was extremely key. Spurs just need bigger players on the court against Golden State.
It was a disaster out there because Golden State could see all the mismatches and exploited it. Livingston is going to be a big problem since he can post up our guards and is very efficient at the mid range. He became less aggressive with Kyle on the court, however Kyle had problems shooting on top of GS defenders.
-Aldridge played scared
-Parker played awful
-Kawhi got too few touches
-Ball seemed to slip out our fingers as soon as we touched it
-Dubs feasted on back cuts and and-1s
-Whole team seemed discombobulated and without energy
Simmons may have been out of control some but he was one of the few who didn't play scared.
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