Golden State Warriors’ Small-Ball Blueprint

Despite all of the great performances for the Golden State Warriors in their 103-82 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in game four of the NBA Finals, the player of the game was Andre Iguodala. It was his first start of the entire season, and his strong presence stifled any momentum the Cavs hoped to find.

Anybody watching this game, Warriors fan or not, knew that it was a must win situation for Golden State. They were previously down 2-1 in the series, and the Warriors responded with a return to form of their fast, dominant style we saw all season.

Something definitely seemed off in most of games two and three. The Warriors’ shots weren’t connecting and they rebounded horribly. However, the worst part was that they weren’t playing with the fun and uptempo style they perfected this year.

Then game four came, and the Warriors hit a switch to take their championship run to the next level.  They played inspired, smart, and intense basketball on Thursday. Clearly, the Cavaliers had no answer for their speed because the Warriors set the pace for most of the game. Aside from a stretch in which the Warriors were only up by a few points in the third quarter, they were clearly the aggressors.

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We saw signs of a turnaround for Golden State in the fourth quarter of game three. The Warriors scored 36 points in the fourth quarter, and fans hoped it would precede a victory next time. Even though Golden State didn’t start as hot as they may have wanted in game four, they definitely picked up the tempo with the help of higher shooting percentages, less turnovers, and more rebounding.

However, possibly the most important statistic of game four was the three-point field goal. The Warriors used a high success rate all season and playoffs to their advantage, but their made threes were drastically down throughout the first three games of the NBA finals.

During the big win in game four, Golden State went 12 for 30 from three-point range for a solid 40% average. A large part of the increased success was that Stephen Curry really seemed to find his good vibes that were missing lately. Curry was back to his great MVP productivity as well because he displayed more of his acrobatic layups and dagger three-pointers that took the life from Cleveland’s comeback hopes.

The main thing that stifled Curry’s ability previously was the rough play of Cleveland’s Matthew Dellavedova. Prior to game four, Dellavedova played hard defense on Curry while making a lot of shots against him as well. That changed in game four.

Dellavedova had absolutely nothing on Curry for most of game four. Curry simply went back to doing what he does best against players lesser than himself. He rocked his agile ball handling against Dellavedova who was outplayed numerous times when Curry surged for layups and sweet fingertip hooks.

This was all made possible with Steve Kerr‘s new-found blueprint that crushed the momentum Cleveland got from game two and three. Kerr brilliantly decided to start Andre Iguodala in favor of a faster lineup that left the Cavaliers gassed.

With this great opportunity, Iguodala rose to the occasion and had one of the best performances of his career.  ESPN commented by saying:

"“Going small with Iguodala revved the pace and maximized his time on James. For the series, when Iguodala is on the floor, James is shooting 35.3 percent and the Cavaliers are minus-25. On Thursday, James was at his least effective in these Finals, hitting only 7 of 22 shots for 20 points. In the fourth quarter, the King went scoreless.”"

Essentially, Iguodala dominated LeBron James in game four. James only scored 20 points in the game, and he looked lifeless by the fourth quarter. Iguodala’s speed and intensity were simply too much for James to find much success. It was clear that Iguodala was ready to give one of the greatest defensive performances this year’s postseason had to offer.

Furthermore, Iguodala scored 22 points and made 8-15 of his field goals.

Yes, the Golden State Warriors played a great game, but the mind of Steve Kerr is certainly a key piece that will bring the NBA Finals Championship to the Bay Area.

Of Kerr’s coaching, Grantland reported:

"“Kerr anticipated that Mozgov would ignore Iguodala when any other Warrior had the ball, so he made sure Iguodala remained an active part of the offense. When Iguodala caught Mozgov drifting toward the rim, he would rush to set a pick for Curry — forcing Mozgov to scurry behind him and try to contain Curry at the 3-point arc. That’s dicey territory for the big fella, and Curry was able to thread pocket passes to Iguodala — leaving Iguodala to slice up the defense in the 4-on-3s Golden State had thrived in until this series.”"

This is simply a great analysis of how Kerr utilized his personnel in the best possible way to crush the Cavaliers.

The Golden State Warriors played their brand of basketball in the game four win.  They will outplay, shoot, and defend against Cleveland on their way to a complete team victory in these NBA Finals.

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