On March 31, Beijing time, the Warriors lost to the Suns 103-107 at home, suffering four consecutive defeats. The Warriors failed to lock up playoff tickets early and were squeezed into 4th place in the West by the Lone Rangers.
Consequentialism, the Warriors are clearly losers. But considering the Warriors' ability to battle league leader Suns to the last minute without Stephen Curry, the Warriors' performance is respectable.
Objectively speaking, Curry was injured and truce, and few people were optimistic about the Warriors winning, but the Warriors relied on championship-level defense and Jordan Poole's bravery to keep the suspense until the last moment. The only pity is that the Warriors' details are not handled in place, and in the end, they regret to lose.
The Warriors' current ranking and losing streak momentum are indeed not ideal, but at least, the Warriors against the Suns have proved with championship-level defense and championship mentality that even if they do not have home advantage in the playoffs, as long as Curry returns, they are still championship contenders.
For the Warriors, the most gratifying thing about this game is the improvement of Draymond Green's defensive form. Since Green's comeback, he has not shown his pre-injury state on the defensive end, whether it is single defense or auxiliary defense, he has lost the elite performance before the injury, even Green himself can't stand it, and openly reflects on his performance in the media.
But playing the Suns today, regardless of Green's fatal steps in the last moment, in terms of defense alone, Green did play his best performance since his comeback. When Green was on the floor with Kevin Looney, he did a good job of assisting the defense under the basket, and from time to time he also aggressively pounced on the outside to participate in the pinch against Chris Paul, forcing the opponent to concede the ball. And when Green played small-ball as a center, he took over the defense against DeAndre Ayton and did a good job, Ayton today only shot 7 of 17, there were 5 turnovers, offensive efficiency and error control are very low.
Judging from the four encounters between the Warriors and the Suns this season, Green is indeed the Warriors' best choice to defend Ayton, and he has two games to assume a lot of responsibilities to defend Ayton, playing very eye-catching and limiting Ayton's finishing efficiency. With Green's defensive trump card in place, the Warriors have the confidence not to be afraid of the playoffs touching the sun.
The Warriors' defensive success today is also directly related to the recovery of veteran Andre Iguodala. When Kerr gave up the use of Cuminga, Moses Moody, Damian Lee, and Ziosa, and put Iguodala, who had returned from injury, into the rotation, the defensive intensity of the Warriors' connection section increased sharply, and Iguodala's ability to take over the opponent's flanks and assist defense was not comparable to Kuminga's stunned youth, and his cutting, mid-range and outside coverage provided great help to the Warriors' defense.
After the All-Star Game, the Warriors' defense did have a huge decline, and they have given up the top position in defensive efficiency. However, the Warriors' defensive slippage was due to the fact that Green and Iguodala were injured and missed a large number of games, and Kerr had to carry out a lot of lineup rotation tests. Now that Green and Iguodala are both returning from injury and are getting better and better, the Warriors are gradually regaining championship-level defensive intensity.
Of course, it is necessary to mention the Warriors' ability to defend the ball on the outside, no matter how efficient Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins are, their ability to defend the ball is always indispensable. Chris Paul and Devon Booker combined to make just 11 of 30 shots today, including 2 of 10 three-pointers, with Thompson, Wiggins' lead and Gary Payton Jr.'s defensive investment being important reasons, as their defensive defense combined with Green and Iguodala's defense made the Suns' two-gun not produce at a normal level.
Offensively, Poole's play is the key to the Warriors' survival to the end. Curry was injured, and Cole completely used Poole as Curry's stand-in. In the Warriors' system, Poole will intersperse running positions like Curry, using cover to catch the ball and shoot. At the same time, when the offense cannot be opened, Poole will also force points by singles and strong shots.
What surprises Poole is his passing ability, such as this kind of diagonal pass to the weak side after the blocking and dismantling, which shows The progress of Poole.
Poole also had a good chemistry with Green, and when Poole took over the pass to attract the pinch, he was able to cleverly send Earth to Green from the human seam. For a shooting guard who averaged less than 2 assists per game in the first two years, Poole's progress in passing techniques and reading games can only be described as "fast".
The Warriors lost this game, mainly in luck and mistakes. Wiggins and Green combined have at least three must-score slots to score on the basket, and Thompson shot only 5 of 21 from the field, including only 1 of 10 three-pointers, which is obviously not his normal level.
Kerr's superstition about the pass-cutting system is another point worth talking about, in many rounds, the Warriors handed the ball to Poole to block and dismantle the effect is very good, without Curry to contain the defense, the Warriors play the pass cutting is very difficult, not to mention they are facing the Sun, the Warriors should have played a little simpler.
However, most of the time, Cole still asked his disciples to pass the cut. As a result, because Curry was not on the floor, it was difficult to open up space, the Warriors had a large number of low-level pass mistakes, and some offenses, although not wrong, did not succeed in the ball possession destroyed by the Suns. Because the passing and cutting rights are scattered, many of the balls are concentrated in the hands of non-ball-holding points, and the result is an increase in errors. The Warriors made 22 turnovers, and the Suns took 29 points just by relying on the Warriors' mistakes.
From the Point of View, 26 of the Warriors' 35 goals were produced by assists, the Warriors' passing was a success. But in terms of high turnover rate, the Warriors' pass cutting is a failure, and in the case of only 2 offensive rebounds, the Warriors shot 9 times less than the Suns. The contradiction of the pass is evident in the moment of life and death, 31.2 seconds before the end of the game, the Warriors played a complex pass and cut coordination, Green held the ball without any offensive threat, the Sun Man stared at the person + infinite change of defense execution in place, Green misjudged the result of the step.
Turning his head, Paul performed a simple block to force Porter to change his defense, and then used the speed of a small break to break through the throw to end the game.
Simplicity, beauty.
Overall, the Warriors' loss to the Suns is not a "loss", but compared to the previous 3 losses, this is definitely a loss that can be accepted by the Warriors. In terms of defending the Suns, the Warriors have accumulated a lot of experience. If Curry returns from injury and the Warriors meet the Suns in the playoffs, they won't have a psychological disadvantage against the Suns.
In recent years, the significance of regular season rankings and home advantage is not as great as in the past, and today's pre-game "alphabet brother" Antetokounmpo is still saying that last year the Bucks ranked 3rd in the East but still went all the way to the final championship, so the regular season ranking is of little significance, even if it is the 1st division 8th division, it will not be too easy, because those who can enter the playoffs are not weak teams.
Antetokounmpo's mentality is also the mentality that a warrior should have. Wiggins said: "We still believe that we are the best team, especially when we are all healthy. ”
As long as the Warriors can play championship-level defense with the heart of a champion like today, once they enter the playoffs, no matter which team the Warriors face, whether they have home advantage or not, they are a force to be reckoned with.