Warriors’ Title Reign at Risk
The Golden State Warriors came off a seven-game first-round encounter against the Sacramento Kings. One in which Steph Curry needed a 50 point Game 7 to bail out the defending champions and prevent a first-round exit.
This then set up a Western Conference semifinal showdown against the Los Angeles Lakers. LA held off a late surge to steal Game One on the road before receiving a 30-point beatdown in Game Two. The Lakers returned the favour with a 30-point win in Game Three.
Trailing 2 games to 1, the Warriors led by as many as 12 points in the second half only to falter in the dying minutes. Their offensive struggles down the stretch were then compounded by Lonnie Walker IV’s 15pts off the bench in the 4th quarter for Los Angeles. The result: the Lakers escaped with a 104-101 victory that gave the Purple and Gold a commanding 3-1 series lead as the series moves back to San Francisco for Game Five.
While Steph Curry finished with 31 points, 14 assists, and ten rebounds in Game Four, Curry’s third playoff career triple-double wasn’t enough to save Golden State from being one loss away from elimination.
Live and Die by the Three
In Game Four, Steph Curry shot three for 14 from the three-point line. Klay Thompson had another quiet outing with nine points on three for nine three-point shooting in 41 minutes. As a team, the Warriors shot a measly 12 for 41 from beyond the three point line (29.3%).
Golden State also shot 29.5% from downtown in Game Three while simultaneously giving up 41 points in the fourth quarter. Not exactly a recipe for success.
In Game One, they attempted 53 threes while converting 21. In their lone win in the series so far, Golden State shot 50% from three with Thompson and Curry combining for 11 for 16 shooting from behind the arc.
Many Warriors fans complained about the wide gap in the free throws when they didn’t take into consideration the fact that Golden State lived and died at the three-point line. LA is getting to the rim, and thus drawing fouls. Golden State? Not so much.
While the Lakers have Anthony Davis roaming the paint causing Warriors slashers to hesitate, fans can’t expect Steph Curry to go supernova every night. Couple this with some uncharacteristically sloppy play by the defending champs, and it’s no wonder they find themselves in the hole they’re currently in.
In the final seconds of Game Four, it was Davis who defended Curry and he succeeded in doing so. Pushing Golden State to the brink in the process.
Lack of a True Big Man
One of the reasons why the Warriors seemingly preferred to live and die at the three-point line is they don’t have a true big man that can match up against Anthony Davis.
In fact, it could be argued that the Warriors don’t really have a true centre on their roster at all. That alone created match-up nightmares for Coach Steve Kerr.
Kevon Looney, JaMychal Green, and Draymond Green can act as de facto 5’s, but aren’t built to completely negate the effects of LA’s size advantage in LeBron and Davis. This size disadvantage caused Steve Kerr to start Gary Payton II over Kevon Looney or JaMychal Green, essentially waiving the white flag on trying to score points on the interior. A decision which ultimately resulted in Anthony Davis to score the bulk of his 23 points in the first half of Game Four.
While Davis isn’t listed as a centre on paper, we’ve seen him play the centre position with dominance, especially against smaller teams. Something we’re seeing night in, night out against the Warriors at the moment.
Looney and the two Greens may be able to slow down Davis, but their offensive void on the other side of the court creates a “pick your poison” conundrum for Kerr & Co. when filling out their lineup.
Davis is averaging 22.3 points, 14.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.8 blocks, 1.8 steals, and 58.9% field goal shooting in the semifinals. If Draymond Green, JaMychal Green, or Kevon Looney can’t find a way to limit Davis’ impact on the game, the series is effectively over for the Warriors.
While it’s tough to see Golden State clawing their way back into things, if you put aside each team’s blowout wins, LA has won two games by a combined total of 8pts. And with the Warriors going 33-8 at home, there’s still an outside chance that Curry can return the infamous “3-1” favour back to LeBron.
Game 5 tips off at 10pm ET on May 10th.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: nikk_la. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.