Eight days ago the Warriors lost their fourth game of the season to the Detroit Pistons by a score of 113-95 in Detroit. Eight days later the Warriors have beaten the likes of Cleveland, Chicago, and San Antonio by a combined margin of 95 points.
Last night at Oracle—the trifecta was completed with a Warrior 120-90 cakewalk over a Spurs team which didn’t play Tim Duncan and looked out of its element against these Warriors. Steph Curry looked virtually unstoppable scoring 37 points on six threes. Draymond Green looked like the most effective point forward in the league, and that’s saying something considering there’s this guy in Cleveland named LeBron James playing the same position–only without Steph Curry to catch his passes.
This was a mismatch. Golden State has swept its season series with Cleveland and now has a 1-0 season series lead over the Spurs. The teams will play two times in San Antonio, and one more time at Oracle. Maybe the presence of Duncan on Spurs’ home floor will help. But playing Duncan won’t help the fact Tony Parker has no one on this Golden State team he can guard… and that’s a big hill to climb even for a great coach such as Greg Popovich. BTW…this is the same problem Popovich will have if his Spurs meet Russell Westbrook somewhere along the line in the upcoming playoffs. If you put Kawhi Leonard on Westbrook, then who guards Kevin Durant?
OKC’s Thunder, even with its putrid loss to the Nets still has a potential role to play in the West if it can get its act together for the simple reason there’s no team in the West who have a defending combo to guard Durant and Westbrook to the hilt defensively. Cleveland, yes, with LeBron James and Shumpert, but not as much with Golden State and San Antonio.
But having written all of the above, none of this would tip OKC over the edge against Golden State if the Thunder can’t get some sort of grip on their overall team defensive issues. Plus, what does Billy Donovan do with Steven Adams and Serge Ibaka against a Warrior lineup of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, and Andrew Bogut?
Here’s what he could do if he’s got the nerve. Go small from the opening tip with Westbrook on Curry, Adams or Ibaka on Bogut, Durant on Draymond Green, Roberson on Thompson, and Dion Waiters on Harrison Barnes.
Move Ibaka or Adams to the second unit with Kanter to give the second unit some rim protection. Against Golden State why have Adams and Ibaka on the floor together since Kerr will go for every small ball mismatch he can manufacture? Why even do it? Why not dictate the terms and put Kanter with Adams or Ibaka and overlap some Durant minutes with this grouping? Be flexible, flow the script of each game, but don’t be married to the thought Adams and Ibaka have to be together against these Warriors.
Lots of little things Billy Donovan has at his lineup disposal when the Thunder play Golden State which the Spurs and Cavs do not have.
But of course, if OKC doesn’t get its defensive issues somewhat in hand, all these possibilities would be moot. But still, some interesting things to ponder if OKC can get its defensive house in order because the Thunder are a team which could offensively hang with the Warriors.
In closing, this was a horrible game as it was played. The games in San Antonio with Duncan should be better games than what we saw last night, but how much better remains to be seen.