The Golden State Warriors must move on from Kevin Durant iso ball

The Golden State Warriors played outside of their identity in game two of the Western Conference Finals. They must get back to playing their style of basketball if they wish to advance to the NBA Finals.

The Golden State Warriors fell to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night in Texas. After turning the ball over seven times in the opening quarter they couldn’t gain an edge on a desperate Rockets team.

A missed transition three by Stephen Curry around the three-minute mark of the first quarter was the last time the Warriors had a chance to take the lead. Curry, like so many times in these first two games of the Conference Finals, missed short off the front of the rim. The rebounded ball made its way back up the court to Eric Gordon who, after getting Kevon Looney on a switch, made a difficult step back three from 3 feet beyond the line.

Nobody would have guessed it then, but that was truly the dagger. The Warriors never came closer than a three-point deficit for the rest of the night. Their runs were thwarted by Rockets…wait for it…ball movement and timely buckets from players not named James Harden or Chris Paul.

Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker and Trevor Ariza combined for 68 points and shot 12 for 19 on threes. It was a barrage the Warriors weren’t ready for and simply could not handle.

Strength in Numbers, the Warriors long branded slogan that gives ode to their ability to move the ball and involve all five offensive players, was lost on Wednesday. While the Rockets, who have specifically structured James Harden’s supporting roster to match the Warriors’ Strength in Numbers and dethrone the two-time champs, looked a lot like, well, the Warriors.

More from Golden Gate Sports

The roles became reversed. Durant in the isolation. And the Rockets driving the lane and swinging the ball around for open threes. Making guys like P.J. Tucker beat you on 5 of 6 shooting form beyond the arc is a very Warriors thing to do. It makes every player and fan throw up their hands.

Really? P.J. Tucker?

Yes, P.J Tucker. The opportunistic benefactor of savory ball movement.

And it’s those open corner threes from the supporting cast that the Warriors know well. It’s what they’ve been doing for the past four years. But in Game 2 it was Houston who hijacked Golden State’s MO, and a Warriors team that slipped from their identity.

The Warriors, who are heralded for their revolutionary style of play which involves a fast-paced offense, timely ball movement and minimal one-on-one play, played in true Rockets fashion on Wednesday. They fed their primary scorer time and time again and that scorer produced but failed to get his other teammates involved.

The result? Defeat.

But the issues in Wednesday’s loss were more layered than that. Let’s break it down.

The Warriors were led by Kevin Durant, who dropped a cool 37 points on 13 of 22 shooting. He was the guy for the Dubs and seemed to be the only player who looked as if winning the game meant something. Post up after post up, shot after shot, bucket after bucket he carried the Warriors through four frustrating quarters.

Durant’s usage rating – a statistic used to estimate the number of the teams plays used by a specific player while on the court – was 38.3 percent. Durant is one of the best scorers on the planet. You want him taking a lot of shots for the simple reason that he makes a lot of them, but it’s the way in which Durant was scoring that is noteworthy.

The majority of his shots came from post ups or face up isolations from either wing and rarely from a teammate assist. This offensive focus works in bunches, but for it to be the primary option for the Warriors for the 35 minutes KD was on the court is not the way they are structured to win basketball games.

And it has a few repercussions.

First off, it is objectively exhausting. Manufacturing buckets against a defense designed specifically to stop you is a daunting task. Durant can do it because his name is Kevin Durant and he’s a walking seven-foot bucket, but it is nonetheless tiring. We saw this in Game one with Harden. He was simply too gassed to do anything towards the end of the game.

And where does this exhaustion become most noticeable? On defense.

Durant registered only three rebounds and failed to register a block or steal (he didn’t get an assist either). Indicative of a player who was struggling to bring it on the defensive end. Those who know the Warriors beyond their three-point shooting know that it’s really their suffocating defense that gives rise to their breathtaking offense. Everything “Warriors” that the Warriors do starts on D.

It’s why Draymond Green is such an essential piece to their success. And it is also why Durant’s defense, elevated under the veteran retina of defensive coach Ron Adams, has been so integral to the Warriors success since his arrival in the Bay – and has put him in the Defensive Player of the Year running two years in a row. To win games, the Warriors need Durant involved on both sides of the ball.

Of the starting Hamptons five, Durant had the highest defensive rating on the team in Game two at 134. When he takes on the entire offensive load he oft-becomes MIA on defense and the Warriors suffer as a result. With the exception of Game one against Houston, let’s look at KD’s highest scoring games of 2018.

40 against the Clippers.

50 against the Blazers.

40 against the Blazers.

39 against the Wolves.

41 against the Pelicans.

And 37 against the Rockets on Wednesday.

All those games Durant went off. All those games he hovered around a 40 percent usage rating. And in all those games the Warriors lost.

Letting Durant go to work for an entire game leads to an absence of his own defensive effort, a lack of involvement from the rest of the team and, most importantly, from the other two scorers on the team. The two best shooters in the league. Those two scorers.

Golden State Warriors /

Golden State Warriors

Klay Thompson’s usage rating was a lowly 13.1 percent (down from 23.6 percent in Game one) and he shot 3 for 11 from the field and finished with eight points. Most of the shots he did manage to get off were forced and not in the rhythm of the offense. Indicative of a player who is trying to get himself going in a game where he isn’t seeing the ball as much as normal. This can be frustrating.

And that frustration and lack of involvement becomes most apparent on the defensive end.

The Warriors blew switches and failed to communicate on multiple sequences. Combined with a Rockets team that couldn’t miss, the Warriors surrendered 127 points – the most scored by any of their opponents this postseason.

This isn’t a bash-KD-he-shoots-too-much piece, but it’s important to understand that the Warriors did not get to the position they are in by force-feeding Durant. They got to where they are by moving the ball and letting Curry run the offense. Even when he is struggling, Curry is the single most threatening player in the entire NBA. He can create for himself but more importantly can create for others even when his game is slightly off – something Kevin Durant has showed he is not as capable of doing.

Next: 5 veterans who might not make the Raiders final roster

The key for the Warriors is to get back to their slogan: Strength in Numbers. However corny, it has been shown to work. Push the pace, drive, cut and pass. For the Dubs, all of that begins with the ball in the hands of number 30.

We’ll see that in Game three.

Lock in.

Home/Golden State Warriors