When Does the Warriors and the Rockets Play Again

Some possessions skid through almost people's consciousness because nothing of note happened. Only sometimes, what didn't happen during a possession tin can exist the about telling.

Have this particular one, for example, during the 2d quarter. With Stephen Curry treatment the brawl, Kevon Looney sets a loftier ball screen for him well-nigh one-half court. The Houston Rockets — who were switching almost every screen on and off the ball — chose to switch this particular ball screen, resulting in Christian Wood having to accept Curry around the screen.

Seeing this from Curry'due south perspective, the process is admittedly audio. Jalen Green stunts and leaves Andrew Wiggins open at the acme of the arc momentarily, leaving the 41.three% iii-point shooter open up before a timely rotation from Kevin Porter Jr. closes the window shut. The Rockets defence force then shifts away from Otto Porter Jr. in the corner, with Wiggins making the correct read past whipping the pass toward Porter for an excellent shot that merely missed.

Or have this possession, where Curry forces another switch onto Wood:

It's an case of "productive passivity" from Curry, who passes out of the matchup and opts to lookout man a fly distill handoff between Porter and Wiggins. Again, from Curry's perspective, the process is sound: Wood has to adhere himself to Curry, which opens the lane for someone else — in this case, Wiggins — to drive and score at the rim.

Only it's these bouts of passivity from Curry — even in the face of a favorable mismatch — that can often be sources of frustration. Anybody is chomping at the bit for Curry to regain his vintage MVP form. He may be averaging 26.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists, but his scoring efficiency is seeing an unprecedented nosedive.

The shooting splits are uncharacteristic: 42/38/91, on 58.9% True Shooting. Not counting his injury-shortened 2019-20 season, the terminal time Back-scratch posted a sub-threescore% True Shooting mark was during the 2012-13 season — nine seasons ago.

The 3-point struggles are of note, but I would contend that it's been his efficiency on twos that has been more alarming. Shooting 48.2% on twos — on track to be his third-worst two-point-shooting mark and the first time he's shot below l% on twos since the 2010-11 season — isn't ideal, particularly in the midst of a three-point-shooting slump.

Curry's shooting woes have fed into his bouts of passivity, while being passive has led to a lack of consistent rhythm and menstruum — a crippling feedback loop serving as the culprit behind his mid-flavour slump. Simply when Curry does determine to become aggressive, some looks take been products of skillful offensive procedure. When Curry does chase the mismatch, he often obtains the shots he desires.

On this possession, he gets some other matchup with Forest, albeit in a unlike manner from the previous clip:

The Warriors run a staple play: double elevate screens flowing into low-mail service split action. The double drag forces Wood to switch onto Curry. After the mail entry, Looney sets the down screen on Wood. Curry gets a look that just misses.

To Curry's credit, as the game went on, his mindset changed from passivity to aggressively hunting Woods. When the lowest-hanging fruit is at that place for the taking, the answer to ane'southward struggles — and the team's struggles, past extension — is to go for the simplest solution.

Whether it was on brush screens, high brawl screens, or quick bursts of relocation, Curry found scoring opportunities against Woods, who was out of his depth defending a unsafe offensive force out on the perimeter.

Continuously setting high ball screens for Curry has been a consistent talking point throughout Steve Kerr's tenure as head coach. It'south no secret that Kerr has tried to shy away from a traditional choice-and-gyre-based criminal offense that the majority of NBA teams run, opting to run a motion offense that uses the off-brawl chaos of Curry coupled with equal-opportunity scoring and playmaking.

The Warriors have consistently been amidst the most conservative teams when it comes to running pick-and-roll possessions. This year hasn't been any different; they average xiv.3 pick-and-scroll possessions, which constitute 12.7% of their total possessions — third-fewest in the league. Just the Denver Nuggets and the Brooklyn Nets run fewer option-and-rolls.

Motion offenses

Todd Whitehead (@CrumpledJumper)

While Kerr's reservations with spreading the flooring and running ball-screen activeness for his best role player has been well-chronicled, information technology doesn't mean that Kerr has been completely abhorrent of it. When the situation calls for it, he unleashes Curry and a screening partner — usually Draymond Dark-green — on ii-man actions, which often result in short-roll 4-on-three situations born out of two defenders attaching themselves to Curry around the screen.

With Green out, Kevon Looney and Nemanja Bjelica filled the void as Curry's partners during ball screens. While he'due south bereft of athleticism and verticality, Looney can curl downhill and finish at the rim when Curry finds himself trapped. While he doesn't have the playmaking clairvoyance of Green on the short curlicue, Looney can also serve every bit a competent substitute who'southward capable of making the correct reads.

Bjelica, on the other mitt, is the closest approximation to Green in terms of playmaking on the short roll, with the added dimension of beingness a pick-and-pop threat. Together, both Looney and Bjelica continuously gear up ball screens for Curry that led to efficient offensive possessions against the Rockets, especially during crunch time.

With how this Warriors offense has been scuffling — 26th in offensive rating over the terminal 26 games, starting from their first matchup against the Phoenix Suns — 1 would assume that crisis-time law-breaking has been an Achilles heel of sorts for them.

The Warriors' xiv wins in clutch situations this season — defined as the terminal v minutes of the game with the score within 5 points or less — has mostly been won on the defensive terminate; their 92.7 defensive rating in the clutch ranks third. On the other manus, their 105.two offensive rating in clutch situations is a middling 19th.

The concept of keeping things simple can too apply to endgame situations. When push comes to shove, the answer is as simple as placing your organized religion upon the shoulders of your superstar.

Which was axiomatic during the last possession of the game, on Back-scratch's kickoff buzzer-beating game winner of his career.

After the game, when asked what he drew upwardly during the timeout, Kerr was straightforward with his respond.

"Get the brawl to Steph, and get out of the way."

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Source: https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2022/1/22/22896105/warriors-rockets-stephen-curry-kevon-looney-nemanja-bjelica-andrew-wiggins-film-breakdown

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