The Thunder just discovered another way to beat the Warriors, and it’s got nothing to do with the pre-series discussion about their size advantage.
Much has been made of the Warriors’ small-ball “Death” lineup, with Draymond Green at the five, Harrison Barnes at the four, and Andre Iguodala as a ball-handling three. With Klay Thompson and Steph Curry in the backcourt, they can switch almost everything on defense, and Dray gives them a presence at the rim. You already know what that lineup’s offense can do, especially when everyone is accurate from downtown.
But the Thunder have a small-ball lineup, too, and it was put to devastating effect Sunday night when Kevin Durant turned into an elite back-line defender and Andre Roberson showed that he can thrive on the offensive end as a post player, rather than the weak-link in the far corner the Warriors could sag off of to help out elsewhere.
This is somewhat new, too. The Thunder had only played four minutes with this lineup in their previous playoff games this season, and they looked bad in that time. The intermittent instances in the regular season when they deployed this small-ball group, they scored a ton of points (1.121 per possession), but gave up even more (1.191), per NBAWowy.
So it’s the defensive end they were looking to rectify while deploying it against the death lineup Golden State trotted out after falling behind early in Game 3.
With KD at the four, Serge Ibaka at the five, and Dion Waiters at the three, the Thunder have Russell Westbrook and Andre Roberson in the backcourt. On offense, Roberson is key, as we’ve been saying all year, but on defense it was Durant who shined brightest on Sunday night. With this group all five players can switch pretty much everything, beguiling a Warriors squad that’s used to doing the same against their opponents. The Thunder basically beat down the Warriors with their own tactic, and Durant played the role normally reserved for Draymond Green: elite defender.
Any time Green tried to do his coast-to-coast routine in mini-transition, there was KD.
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When Dray slipped the high screen with Steph, KD was waiting with those Durantula arms ready to snuff out the layup attempt.
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On that last one, it even led to Durant’s only triple of the night:
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When the Warriors got out to run and had a seemingly wide-open dunk, Durant was there to do his Roy Hibbert impression. Harrison Barnes didn’t know KD could play that verticality card, either.
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And while Serge Ibaka has seen his offensive involvement shrink since Billy Donovan took over as coach, he can still protect the paint, too.
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Even if his presence is just a threat rather than an actual block, sometimes that’s enough, like it was here against a driving Klay.
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(And did you see Roberson perfectly ride Klay’s hip to make that attempt even more uncomfortable. That’s why he’s out there.)
“I just think because of our roster and the flexibility on our roster and the guys and just how invested they are, different series bring out different situations,” Donovan said after the game. Their rookie sideline general wasn’t kidding. They played big to beat the Spurs, and now they’re playing small to beat the Warriors. It’s almost like they’re stealing each team’s advantage for their own.
It wasn’t just Durant’s back-line defense that infused this Thunder small-ball group with so much confidence, either. No, it’s the fact that Durant, Ibaka, Roberson, Waiters and Russ can switch everything and not be made to look silly after doing so.
Roberson is an elite defender; it’s the only reason he can even stay on the court with the weakest three-point shot left in the playoffs. Watch him battle Klay in the post here to force up a difficult baseline leaner:
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And when Kevin Durant’s alien wing span is forcing Klay Thompson into air balls, you know they’re dialed in.
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Those are two wildly different players stymieing an elite offensive player.
The Thunder’s All-Star point guard — who has been known to stray on one side of the court — knew his team’s overwhelming advantage in Game 3 came when they buckled down on the defensive end.
“It all starts with our defense,” Westbrook said after the game. “It’s not much offense. When we get stops, it’s tougher to stop us in transition.”
He’s right, of course. The same was said about the Warriors all season long. Now they’ll have to figure out to counter a small-ball group that looks eerily similar to their own.
When we all thought the Thunder would zig with a behemoth frontcourt of Enes Kanter and Steven Adams controlling the offensive and defensive glass, but they zagged in the form of their small-ball lineup.
Now the Warriors have to prove their mettle against the best team they’ve faced since their reign of domination started almost two seasons ago.
(Via The Oklahoman)
