Very few teams can do what the Golden State Warriors do.
There are fewer still that can replicate the Warriors’ formula and use it to punish the NBA champions. Saturday night in Portland, the Trail Blazers were that team.
Their defensive intensity was impressive, and it led to offensive opportunities. They made the extra pass, creating wide-open 3-point looks for just about everybody who took the floor. Their guards made 3-pointers even when guarded, off the dribble, falling down, and as the shot clock expired.
Yes, the Warriors were looking in the mirror Saturday night, and they found out what it was like to be the team constantly inbounding the ball after their opponents made either a wide-open shot or an impossible contested one. It’s hard to say which is more demoralizing.
I shouldn’t say they “found out” what it was like, because they had experienced the same thing in the same building in the first game after the All-Star break. Damian Lillard scored 51 points that night to lead Portland to a 32-point win which wasn’t even that close. When this series started, that game was mentioned, but it was also quickly explained away as a game in which the Warriors were a little bushwacked. They were tired from having three players in the All-Star Game, and Lillard was angry because he wasn’t. Bad combination.
The game served as a launching pad for the Warriors, who won their next seven games and 14 of their next 15. Nothing to see here, folks.
Game 3, however, showed that the February 19 matchup wasn’t as big a fluke as advertised. While this game remained in doubt much longer than the one in winter, the Warriors were unable to either string stops together or get enough good shots to trim their deficit below 10 in the final 19:54 of regulation. Without a very flukeish eight 3-pointers from Draymond Green, they would have lost contact with the Blazers, and the fourth quarter would have been garbage time, just like Feb. 19.
I wrote after Game 1 that while the Warriors got what they needed — a win — they didn’t get what they wanted, which was separation and domination. The Blazers repeatedly came back from large deficits, and while they never trailed by fewer than nine, they showed over the last three quarters they could get stops and quality shots.
The Blazers didn’t get what they wanted in Game 1 either, which was to win, but they got what they needed, which was to show that they could take the Warriors’ best punch and get back up off the canvas.
Game 2 was a continuation of those themes, with the Warriors again winning the game but having considerably more trouble handling the Blazers until their inexperience showed up in the last nine minutes of regulation. The Blazers didn’t get a precious road win, but they gained even more confidence that they belonged in this series.
In Game 3, they erased all doubt from that claim, as they held off a late Warrior charge by hitting tough 3-pointers. You can’t catch up against a team that makes its 3s, as opponents of the Warriors have often experienced over the past two years. Comebacks are built on a combination of empty trips from the opponent; made field goals; and some free throws to score dead-clock points. Something close to perfection on offense enables the trailing team to, at the very least, make a serious push. The Warriors’ push in Game 3 cut Portland’s lead to 12 with 3:11 left. The Blazers hit 3s at 2:47, 2:17 and 1:22 to beat back that comeback. The Warriors didn’t get the stops which are part of a comeback bid. Portland always had an answer.
I’m sorry, folks, but that’s absolutely Warrior-like. Golden State has done that to so many teams over the past two years that it seemed the Dubs were guilty of copyright infringement.
By now you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t mentioned Steph Curry. That’s on purpose. I haven’t mentioned him because he hasn’t played in this series, and therefore he doesn’t belong in this conversation. He may play in Game 4, but I suspect we wouldn’t know that until right before game time. Coach Steve Kerr has said that he wants to see Curry play 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 before he gets the green light, but he also said they would not be playing 5-on-5 between Games 3 and 4, because everybody needs rest. It sounds to me that Steph’s out for Game 4. Kerr has said repeatedly that the series standings don’t matter, that Steph will play when he’s ready. It would really surprise me if they use him without seeing him in a 5-on-5 scrimmage.
That means the Curry-less Warriors need to figure this out. The cavalry isn’t coming; at least, it’s not coming soon. They need to get back to their style of basketball with movement and passing, and need to be much sharper with their defensive rotations. They also need production from either Harrison Barnes or someone playing in place of Harrison Barnes. When you look at the Game 3 box score and you see that Al-Farouq Aminu had 23 points and 10 boards, and Barnes had 7 and 6, you see the problem. Barnes, when he’s hitting corner 3’s once in a while, provides spacing for the Warriors’ offense. If opponents don’t have to guard him, which right now they don’t, they can allocate resources to stop other threats. Aminu is inconsistent, and the Warriors had stopped paying much attention to him, and he made them pay dearly last night.
Having the series go to Game 5, now certain, is not the end of the world. The Warriors will fly home after Game 4 whether they were playing a Game 5 or not. It would be great, however, to avoid having to fly back to Portland for Game 6, because that’s when the air miles start to add up. The San Antonio Spurs are — I predict — going to make short work of the Oklahoma City Thunder in their series (winning in five), so any additional games it takes for the Warriors to dispatch the Blazers gives those old guys more rest between series.
The Warriors need to look at that team in the mirror and find its weakness, and they need to do it soon.
