OAKLAND — Of all the shade thrown at the Warriors by ex-players and media members, this one from last week’s Game 3 blowout loss looms large:
Warriors have nothing if jumpers aren't falling. Great when they do fall, but that's why not an all time great team
— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) June 9, 2016
It suggests the observer does not watch enough Warriors basketball. Because those who believe Golden State broke the NBA wins record on sharpshooting alone are sorely mistaken. But in Game 5, Golden State added fuel to that fire with a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance. In the first half, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined to go 12-for-20 from the field and 9-for-14 from distance as the Warriors stayed even with the hot-shooting Cavs for a 61-61 tie at the break. In the second half, the Splash Brothers produced a 7-for-21 effort, which included an abysmal 2-for-11 clip from beyond the three-point arc (their teammates went 1-for-10). The Cavs outscored Golden State 51-36 after intermission to send the NBA Finals back to Cleveland.
Pete Prisco, the man behind the infamously ignorant tweet above, may be patting himself on the back for his assessment. But as they say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often and even a broken clock is right twice a day. The reality of the situation is simple: when the Warriors don’t protect the rim, it disrupts their entire rhythm on both ends of the floor.
In Monday’s Game 5, which was supposed to be a 48-minute party capped off with confetti and champagne but instead resulted in a 112-97 loss, the Warriors sorely missed Draymond Green. The suspended ‘heartbeat’ of the Warriors, who was stuck watching from a suite at the next-door A’s game, is the key to Golden State’s inimitable lineup of death. Having a 6-foot-7 center that can match up with elite big men and protect the paint allows the Warriors to use their defense as a catalyst for next-level offensive flow. The combination of elite speed, crisp passing and accurate shooting is what’s gotten Golden State to this point, just one win away from capping off a historic 73-win season with a second straight title. But as the Warriors have said ad nauseam, it starts on the defensive end of the floor.
If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: the Cavs aren’t going to lay down and let the Warriors coast to a storybook ending to this dream season. LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Co. are competitors and want nothing more than to shock the basketball world. But regardless of their competitive fire, James and Irving have struggled against Golden State’s normally-stifling defense. Outside of the Game 3 blowout in Cleveland, the Cavs’ two stars combined for 45.7 points per game heading into Monday’s must-win contest.
With their season on the line, though, James and Irving took advantage of open looks and consistently worked their way into the paint with ease. It’s fair to say it would’ve been a different story if the NBA hadn’t taken Draymond Green out of this game.
With Green absent, the Warriors had to lean on Andrew Bogut, who was a non-factor (no shots in 7:35) and got into foul trouble before leaving the game in the third quarter with a sprained left knee. Backup center Festus Ezeli couldn’t pick up the slack either, as he went 1-for-3 for two points and added three rebounds in 9:31. The list of disappointing big men goes on. Mo Speights was 0-for-6 in 11:20. Anderson Varejao hustled hard to make a slight impact in his eight minutes and change, but scored all three of his points at the free throw line (on eight attempts) and did not make life hard for the Cavs in the paint.
What Green brings to the table is much more than motivational tactics. He’s an elite defender that helps the Warriors on the offensive end as well. To the shock of absolutely nobody, the Warriors sorely missed him on Monday. But it was worse than expected: James and Irving became the first pair of teammates to both score 40+ points in an NBA Finals game.
“Obviously we missed him tonight big time,” Thompson said of Green. “It’s not an excuse, though. We still had an opportunity to win the game. We liked our position at halftime tied up. But Kyrie was great tonight and had my number.”
It’s nice of Thompson to fall on the sword, but his ‘number’ statement isn’t necessarily accurate. He’s an excellent on-ball defender, but the Warriors win with defense when everyone works in unison. If Draymond was flanking Klay to offer help defense, we might be talking about parade plans instead of a trip back to Cleveland.
“He’s our centerfielder in the back when he’s able to see the whole floor,” Curry said of the Warriors’ missing man. “Tonight it was obviously different rotations and we tried to adjust on the fly with the different matchups, but we just didn’t execute as well.”
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr wouldn’t touch the Draymond excuse in his postgame press conference. He’s too competitive to go that route. To use LeBron’s words, Kerr took ‘the high road.’
“We weren’t very good defensively,” he said. “We obviously knew we were without Draymond, so there’s no point in harping on that. We had to play better, and we didn’t.”
Kerr’s analysis is as grossly rudimentary as Prisco’s. The difference: Prisco is paid for his ‘hot takes’ while Kerr is simply playing the ‘coachspeak’ card.
Kerr’s job is to prepare the Warriors for a crucial Game 6 in Cleveland, not give the media his expert insight. But if Kerr was talking privately with Green instead of to a room full of reporters, he’d sing a different tune. Draymond’s impact can’t be understated and Monday’s loss demonstrates exactly why that’s the case.
With the Warriors getting their ‘heartbeat’ back on Thursday, there’s certainly no need to panic. Three straight losses is still an unfathomable possibility when you consider everything this team has done to get to the brink of immortality and the NBA’s history with 3-1 Finals leads. But the margin for error that kept the Warriors loose heading into Game 5 is gone. From this point forward, Golden State is dealing with a confident Cavs team. Draymond can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the confidence department, though, and will have more motivation than he’ll ever need after the humbling experience of the suspension and subsequent loss.