With just under 10 minutes left in the first quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ visit to Cleveland, the Cavaliers were getting ready to flow into a transition set: a simple dribble handoff between Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell at the left slot area.
Having matched up against Mitchell while sauntering back on defense, Pat Spencer becomes the chaser to Mitchell’s chase-ee, with the responsibility of having to fight over the Mobley screen and stay connected to Mitchell around the handoff, especially with Quinten Post playing drop coverage. A failure to do so would mean Mitchell having an open pull-up jumper, a deadly proposition for someone shooting 38 percent on more than 10.5 3-point attempts per 75 possessions this season.
To Spencer’s credit, he manages to stick to Mitchell around the handoff screen. But with Mobley opting to stay put on the perimeter instead of rolling, Post is in a bit of a bind, with Spencer too busy minding Mitchell to perform a “veer-back” switch toward the popping Mobley. To account for a potential open Mobley (who is shooting a respectable 37 percent on 4.4 attempted threes per 75 possessions), peep at what Will Richard — guarding Darius Garland — chooses to do in order to create ample recovery time for Post:
Richard’s stunt is just enough to plant a seed of hesitation within Mobley’s mind, enough for Post to close out in a controlled manner for the contest, one which forces Mobley’s shot to clank front iron.
Possessions like the one above were littered throughout the Warriors’ 99-94 win over the more talented Cavaliers, a game in which Golden State did not have Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler to power the offense and Draymond Green to captain the defense.
Dependable veteran role players in Al Horford, Seth Curry and De’Anthony Melton also weren’t on hand, which meant head coach Steve Kerr had to rely on a 10-man roster and funky combinations in order to create some semblance of a functioning NBA squad. And Kerr — through the decision of starting Spencer in lieu of Brandin Podziemski and empowering Post to be their defensive anchor in Green’s place— did just that.
The Warriors were largely able to keep the broader Cavs offense in check, despite their big three of Mitchell, Mobley and Garland combining for 64 points. Those three in tandem weren’t enough to offset the Warriors’ attempts to keep their offense at bay — and keep them at bay, they did, in spectacular fashion: 97.9 points per 100 possessions for an offense that typically norms 116.9 points per 100 possessions in non-garbage time. In the half court, their 78.4 points per 100 possessions was a far cry from their season average of 97.5 points per 100 half-court possessions.
But to call this defensive performance from the Warriors unprecedented would only be a half truth. Yes, they did not have the services of their best defender in Green, whose 540 non-low-leverage minutes has allowed the Warriors to keep opponents to 107.5 points scored per 100 possessions this season, per Databallr — a mark equivalent to the second-stingiest defensive team in the league. With Green off the floor (467 minutes), the Warriors have been allowing opponents to score 116.3 points per 100 possessions, equivalent to the 18th-ranked defense in the league.
Suffice to say, the Warriors did not look like the 18th-ranked defense against the Cavs, something that may have to do with the fact they have have sneakily become one of the best defensive units in the league, holding opponents to 112.5 points per 100 possessions this season entering Saturday, fifth in the NBA. Even independent of Green’s presence on the floor, one can surmise how connected these Warriors have been defensively, especially as a singular hive mind rotating on a string against the Cavs:
Towering over everyone else on defense has been Post, whose improvement as a defender has been entertaining to witness. While still working with a significant strength deficit against counterparts who possess more muscle and functional strength, Post often counters with defiance and an unbending refusal to get beat by his man. Those traits were magnified against someone like Mobley, who doesn’t profile as the kind of brawny big that has traditionally given Post problems. As such, Post is able to even the battle out while using a combination of discipline and lateral movement to keep Mobley in check:
Part of that disciplinary improvement has been playing a role that perhaps only Green has been able to consistently embody in the Kerr era: a rim protector with the capability to play the middle ground, diagnose the situation on the fly and commit to the right decision (or, at times, the least-wrong decision) as a defender. The difference is that, unlike Green, Post is a bona-fide 7-foot center:
This isn’t to say Post was able to anchor the defense through sheer will and confidence alone. Schematically, the Warriors pushed the right buttons and were timely in their efforts to do so. They mixed in different types of coverages, such as the aforementioned drop coverage in order to keep themselves out of rotation, with the confidence treating screen-and-roll possessions as a two-on-two contest would end up in their favor (while also having faith in their screen navigators and bigs to not falter).
They surprised Garland with sudden traps and hard hedges. That tactic forced the ball out of his hands and diverted the ball-handling and decision-making responsibilities toward other Cavs players, especially whenever Mitchell and Mobley had to sit on the bench for their customary rest:
Even when most of the highlights involved Spencer and how he was the spearhead of the committee that collectively squeezed out just enough offensive juice to complement the defensive effort, it was defense that ultimately sealed the win for the Warriors. Even while most teams wouldn’t prefer to have an opposing star player take the last shot — or take any sort of shot at all — in an end-of-game situation, it is sometimes an unavoidable scenario. In those instances, it is paramount whatever coverage was agreed upon in the huddle prior to the possession be followed to the tee.
In that regard, Gui Santos — also a big contributory party to the offense — notched arguably the biggest stop by switching onto Mitchell around a screen in a timely manner. More importantly, he was able to contest Mitchell’s shot without contact:
Truth be told, this win over the Cavs should really be the Warriors’ second in a row built off of solid foundational defense. But despite the missed opportunities to pick up found money, what the Warriors did manage to find were players who are willing to fight and scrap for every opportunity not handed to them on a silver platter. For players who find themselves having to do whatever they can to stay in the league, hunger isn’t satiated through the proverbial basketball silver spoon — but rather, having the willingness to bring guns to a knife fight.
