Why the Warriors are a different animal

The Warriors waltzed to a Game 1 victory over the Mavs, and it was a reminder of just how different Golden State is compared to other high-level playoff teams. Their defensive versatility and communication make it harder to attack weaknesses, and on offense, their movement and shooting bend the floor unlike any other team. As we saw in the last video, the Mavs constructed a defensive game plan to take away the Suns' pet actions for Devin Booker and Chris Paul, and one key to that game plan was helping off players who weren't as dangerous away from the ball. But against the Warriors, that doesn't work because of all their great off-ball weapons and perpetual motion offense. Here's a high screen and roll against the Suns. Luka is slid way over because his man is spotting up above the arc on the weak side, and help defenders can overload off stationary shooters and then recover in sync behind the play. Now here's a pick and roll against the Warriors. Klay Thompson's defender is glued to him, Jordan Poole's defender has to follow him, and this big man is worried about helping on the roller and off Klay's screen. He jumps to the ball, Thompson hits the roll man, and now there are still three passes to defend, Poole in the corner, a cut down the lane, or a Curry 3, and that just shatters the defense. By the way, if you don't jump out to help on that screening action, it's a good look for Klay, and that's too easy. And this is a big change for Dorian Finney-Smith, who was excellent navigating on ball screens last series, but that's a totally different thing than chasing the Splash Brothers around. Curry buckles him with that cut, and that frees him up for an offensive rebound, and then without any extra help, he's just too quick for Dorian, and drops in a silly mid ranger and a foul. Golden State's offensive movement never stops occupying defenders. Curry and Klay hook arms here, and Finney-Smith successfully shoots the gap, but then they both cut again, and when Klay comes off this handoff, Finney-Smith can't help off Curry in the corner, so Looney's wide open, and that's a layup or offensive rebound half the time. The constant attention that their movement shooters provide, emphasis on movement, creates a ton of space and strains weak side defense. Luka is focused on that Klay Thompson screening action, so when they run the same thing for Steph, Doncic is 12 feet away from the play, and it's a dunk. Despite an off-night shooting, Curry still warped the court. Two Dallas defenders go to him, he hits Draymond on the short roll, and we've all seen this movie by now. They also attacked Luka in pick and roll, and he's trying to avoid a switch here, but unwisely goes after the loose ball, then Curry blows by a second defender, which leads to a total defensive breakdown, and a warm-up shot for Poole. Here's another one against Luka, but this time he passes it immediately just so he can go get it back, and that creates confusion because Luka thinks he can't leave him yet, so the shooters are uncovered, and as the Mavs recover, Klay's open in the corner, so two rush to him, and Poole makes a gorgeous fake, and an extra pass for an and one. Near the end of the half, Curry goes after Luka again in pick and roll, and this time he keeps heading left, away from the screen, trying to force Doncic to commit so he can't recover, but he kind of stays in no-man's land, so Steph explodes into the open space, and finishes for two. In the third, they brought out another wrinkle, bringing Doncic up for a screen, immediately passing, only to whip it back to Luka's man, Andrew Wiggins, and Doncic recovers well here but breaks down on the second move, and this time Wiggins makes the pass but it's fumbled, but that's okay because Curry's corner cut takes two defenders with him, and Klay slips home for a layup. Wiggins also had success against Luka, they went at him on the very first play, with this common handoff action and a screen, and Doncic goes under, and it's a wide open three. Here's another one late in the possession, and Dallas wants to avoid Luka out in space like this, because Wiggins is too quick, and it's a nice little floater. Attacking Doncic also wears him down, so it's easier for Wiggins to guard him on the other end, where he can use his size and length to nullify that scoring. They try to post him in the first quarter, but Andrew's too big and strong to be picked on down there, and he's also quicker on the outside, so he can recover on Luka's slow-motion Wiggins harassed him in the backcourt to wear him down a little more, and of course, it takes a village to defend great players like Luka, with Draymond Green helping, perfect rotations behind the play, and then finally Wiggins, who can defend Luka out in space like this. After attacking centers for the last two rounds, Doncic wanted to go after Kvon Looney on switches, but Looney's a bit more agile and held up pretty well, although the Warriors did often send a little help, which opened up playmaking lanes for Luka. At the end of the first half, Looney's switched onto Doncic 40 feet away, he does lose him with a cross, and Curry sees it and sprints to cut off Luka, which slows him down just enough for a block from behind. The Mavs really wanted to target Curry in pick and roll, but the Warriors used that same show-and-recover technique to avoid the switch that we saw Dallas use against Phoenix. This time, Wiggins gets stuck on the screen, so Luka attacks Steph, but he slides and jams up the ball while Draymond flies over, and then Curry instantly recovers to the corner. This time, the Warriors try to pre-switch to hide Steph, but Luka just asks for another screen from Jalen Brunson, and they know Curry's going to show in front of it, so Brunson rolls downhill, and it's Green again materializing and telling Curry to peel out to his man, and now there's nothing brewing with 5 seconds on the shot clock, and Dinwiddie can't shoot that over Klay. So Dallas didn't have that much success hunting Curry, and ironically, he actually had an excellent defensive game. Here's a Spain pick and roll where Otto Porter and Klay miscommunicate, both rushing to the shooter, and Curry sees this and makes a brilliant save on Luka's highlight pass. This is another great help play, holding on for the switch, and then actually blocking Brunson at the rim, and then he was off to the races, pushing hard in transition for an easy layup. Here Doncic works for a switch so he can go after Looney, and Draymond slides over to stop him, and then sprints to the corner to take away that pass, and it's Curry who sneaks down to poke the ball away, and the Warriors are at their best when they turn defense into offense like this, and the route was on. The Mavs did have success all night, going after Jordan Poole when he was out there, but again, that team scheme limits the damage. Curry slides over to help, everyone recovers on the pass, and they swing it back to Brunson to attack Steph, but two more defenders are slid in the driving lanes, and he holds his ground. And as we've seen, Draymond is really the ultimate safety net. He's slowed down Dinwiddie or Brunson for most of the night on the ball, he's there to help Wiggins anytime there's a breakdown in isolation against Luka, and once there's a switch, he's lurking near the paint as a free safety. Dinwiddie goes after Looney this time, and Draymond stays in the lane to help on the drive, then somehow sits on a cross-court pass so he can close to the corner and destroy a three ball, my goodness. Dallas did miss plenty of open looks in this game, so they might find a little more success offensively, but it's clear that they'll need a completely different game plan against Golden State's unique offense, where it's harder to hide Luka than it was against the spot-up driven Suns. Because after Game 1, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and the rest of the Warriors once again reminded us that they are an entirely different animal. For additional content, check out Patreon.com slash Thinking Basketball, that's the best way to support this channel. We also discuss this series in more detail on the Thinking Basketball podcast. Thanks so much to all you new listeners and subscribers out there, and as always, wherever you are enjoying the playoffs from, I hope that you're having a great day.