The Golden State Warriors destroyed the Dallas Mavericks 147-116 on Thursday night, and with James Wiseman and Kevon Looney suffering injuries, they did so without playing a single player over six feet tall for a single minute , surpassing the Mavericks 54 -36 in the painting.
It didn’t seem to make sense on paper. The Mavericks started with 2.13 meters Kristaps Porzingis and Maxi Kleber 1.80 meters tall, and Dwight Powell with 1.80 meters stayed 15 minutes off the bench. And yet, somehow, did the super-small warriors beat them up inside?
This is one of the wrong names that modern basketball has exposed: being tall does not automatically mean inner domination. In fact, with no center in programming, the Warriors were able to spread the ground with an extra sniper, taking the big Dallas ones out of the painting, which unlocked a series of back cuts and general movements that resemble the beautiful warriors of the past. Draymond Green had 15 assists facilitating everyone this.
And another:
And three more:
Until Thursday, the Warriors started either Wiseman or Looney at the center of each game, and Steve Kerr deployed just one lineup, for just 17 possessions in total, with a non-centralized team joining Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Green, for Cleaning the glass.
Wiseman has a decent jump, but both he and Looney obstruct the runway and neither contributes to the kind of collective movement of the ball and the player that forces defensive failures and leads to easy baskets. With four snipers around Green, however, there is a lot of space behind the defense and many players running for an early game designer as he doesn’t explore the openings everywhere.
With a spaced ground, Oubre, one night after finishing with minus 25 in the four-point loss to Boston, reached his career record of 40 points at the Mavericks. He was fantastic, shooting 14 out of 21 while hitting seven of his 10 3-point attempts. He opened 3 points throughout the season, so we cannot entirely associate his hot shooting night with a grander theme, but it is safe to say that he felt more comfortable spreading lines, being able to attack the dribble without encountering resistance at the edge. . After he started – note that the first two marks of the night were within the restricted area to set the pace – the shots continued to fall.
Juan Toscano-Anderson became the fifth starter, Damion Lee and Mychal Mulder played 39 minutes combined and the Warriors raced around Dallas. In addition, having more snipers on the ground doesn’t just involve space and movement; it’s about, you know, taking more pictures. The Warriors hit 22 points out of 3 in a 51 percent clip.
To be clear, this does not necessarily mean that the Warriors have unlocked something sustainable. The Mavericks are a bad defensive team, and although Golden State’s execution was almost perfect, Kerr doesn’t think about the short term. It deals with post-season preparation as much, if not more than regular season production.
It must be argued that everyone, from Curry to the cast, benefits from having as many kicks as possible on the ground, but in the playoffs it is difficult to stay small full-time. Certain confrontations do not allow this. Even those who present the issue of wearing Green having to defend themselves above their weight category for more than 40 minutes. Kerr wants defense. Versatility. Everyone needs to be able to play with everyone.
But this change in lineup caused by injuries is certainly intriguing. A lot of people would say that David Lee’s random injury at the start of the 2014-15 season, which paved the way for Green to see more minutes on lineups perfectly suited to his skills, is what really gave rise to the first Golden State title under Kerr. Obviously, this is not at that level, but the change usually grows with the need.
If this minor formation becomes the new initial unit, that is beside the point. Again, there is a cumulative effect to be considered, and not all teams will be as happy as Dallas was to shoot 3 points instead of punishing smaller teams internally. The question, perhaps, is whether these off-center lineups will have greater action in stretching, perhaps the most important as finishing units. Anyway, for at least one night, a little ball made the The attack of the warriors sings as it used to be.