Warriors vs. Timberwolves
The Warriors are
completely insane right now. You’re
missing out if you are not watching every minute of every game they play. Their first 10 games have been historically
dominant. Curry is coming out at the
beginnings of games and just immediately crushing the wills of opponents. Teams quickly are becoming demoralized and
decide they just can’t live with him going either one on one or getting a pick
which necessitates a big man having to contain him so they are forced to double
team. He’s become so good at passing out
of a double at the top of the key.
There’s a true art to this skill.
Most guys when they’re doubled struggle to get rid of the ball in a
timely fashion and when they do get rid of it, it’s often in a release valve
sort of way which gives the defense precious moments to recover. The key is to get rid of the ball extremely
quickly and to put the person you’re passing to in a position to immediately
take action. Curry is giving Draymond
Green a pass so good that he’s literally stepping into a shot or a drive with
no wasted movement. Every split second
counts when you’re trying to keep a defense on its heels. You want them scrambling to keep up with you
rather than you having to struggle to slip past them. Green receives the ball and is either
launching a 3 or dribbling down the lane.
At that point he’s either flipping a lob pass to the center (mostly
Ezeli this year who has done a fantastic job finishing) or kicking the ball out
to one of the corners where a shooter (Usually Thompson, Iguodala, or Barnes)
is poised and ready to launch a shot.
This one play looks almost unstoppable right now.
A lot of teams in the league are trying to
adopt the so called pace and space offense but what they are not taking into
account is that the Warriors have a couple of unique players which make all of
this possible. Curry’s shooting is
unmatchable. There is just no other
human on earth who crosses half court and is an immediate threat to score at
any moment. Most of his shots are shots
that for any other player would be inexcusably bad ones. Not only that, but his handle is great and he
is capable of shooting off the dribble so well that your defense is immediately
on its heels in a unique way that no other situation can quite match. It’s really hard to get used to guarding
someone in spots where you’ve never had to guard anyone else before. Usually you’d say if you forced another
player to take the long quick release 3s that Curry takes that you’d played
good defense forcing a bad shot. Curry
makes teams immediately rethink every strategy on offense. The 2nd thing that makes Golden
State’s situation unique is Draymond Green.
There just aren’t many strong, fast, power forwards that can shoot
reasonably well and can dribble really well and pass phenomenally. He is basically the secondary point guard on
the floor. His reads as he goes down the
middle of the defense are quick and accurate.
There are practically no other players with his offensive skillset that
can also guard just about any position on the court, most especially big
men. When the Warriors go small and
Green is matched up against a center he is putting them in an untenable
situation when he gets the pass out of the Curry double team at the top of the
key. Most centers have trouble closing
out and when they do he has the speed to go right around them. This problem exists for the majority of power
forwards as well. Once Green is around
his man and in the lane the defense is a full step behind and some quick ball
movement will inevitably lead to an open shot.
The Warriors are deep, especially with Iguodala, but when Curry leaves
the game they are quite vulnerable. It’s
his shooting that changes the dynamic of everything that happens on offense for
them. When Curry sat against Minnesota
the machine disappeared and they looked like a beatable basketball team.
Wiggins is really starting to come into his
own. He’s way more aggressive than he was last year and you
can see he believes more in himself and is confident in his ability to score
against anyone. I like his quiet laid
back confidence with a sleeping underlying killer lying just beneath the
surface. Towns is going to be a super
star. He’s incredibly smooth and relaxed
looking for a rookie big man. He’s
strong and fast and plays hard and he has a remarkably diverse skill set for
someone so young. His shot looks good
and he’s got nice post moves. The tandem
of Towns and Wiggins is easily one of the most enticing in the league. They’re both so young and talented and more
importantly still have upside to their games.
With those two Minnesota is pretty much set with the foundation of their
team for years to come.
I like Rubio a great deal because he can command an offense, but this game exemplified the biggest problem of his career thus far. He can’t stay healthy and he misses so many
games. Minnesota’s offense runs so much
better when he plays and they need him desperately on defense. Zach Levine isn’t even remotely ready to run
a team. In fact I just don’t see him
ever being a point guard. He played some
atrocious defense on Curry. They need to
absolve him of all point guard responsibilities and move him to off guard and
let him play off of his physical skills.
When he does dribble it should simply be to drive to the basket, and
when he shoots it should be because someone passed him the ball with the intent
of having him put up a shot. They need to simplify everything he does and condense all his moves into quick decisive actions. It seems
like their thinking of him developing and becoming Russell Westbrook but even
if that was a possibility (which it’s not) I’m not convinced that was even the
smartest way to develop Westbrook. If OKC had made Westbrook a 2 guard who sometimes ran the offense it would have lessened his
worst tendencies to pound the rock and dominate an offense. Westbrook would immediately be the best two
guard in the league if he played with a good point guard and OKC’s offense
would be much more efficient and egalitarian and other players would have way
more opportunities to get involved. Please Minnesota keep this in mind in all things Levine.
If
Rubio can’t stay healthy Minnesota can’t win.
But would that be a bad thing?
One more year of missing the playoffs and hopefully getting a high pick might
push them over the hump next year. It
might be in Minnesota's best interest to lose a bit more this year then they’d like
in order to be a better basketball team next year. One more young piece would put them over the
top. Having said that they do have other
young players I like. Deng looked good
for instance but it would be a great luxury if they could draft one last game-changing
piece next year to go along with their talented young core.
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