On the morning of May 5, Beijing time, the Warriors will continue to sit at home to face the Lakers, and for the Warriors who are 0-1 down, this game is not a mistake. G2, the Warriors are bound to adjust, and the Warriors' adjustment will definitely revolve around limiting Anthony Davis' interior offense. What will the Warriors do? If the Warriors completely shrink the box, can LeBron James get back the three-point touch to punish the Warriors?
How do the Warriors limit Davis?
G1, Davis slashed 30 points, 23 rebounds, offensive and defensive. From the perspective of the Warriors' offense, it is very difficult for them to break the defensive system supported by Davis, and they have to start from a defensive point of view, because Davis' 30 points bring them too much damage, Davis is full of firepower, and the Lakers' interior attack is invincible, which is the biggest advantage of the Lakers. From a "pinching snakehead" perspective, the Warriors obviously have to limit Davis first.
So how can the Warriors limit Davis?
Perhaps most people's first reaction is to directly pinch or finish. It's really not that simple. If you put it in the Vogel era, maybe the Warriors can directly pinch shots, but now Davis plays differently, he reduces low-post singles and attacks more in dynamic mode, which makes it difficult for the Warriors to form a clip.
We can look at these rounds, this ball, the Lakers opened with the iconic tactic, Reeves gave Davis cover in the bottom corner to help Davis roll to the middle, and then Davis received the ball and made a layup.
In this round, Davis blocked the cover and went down, just into the box to catch the ball and use the throw to score, at this time Wiggins and Looney wrapped up, but Davis did not enter the encirclement, the Warriors had no choice.
Like this round, Davis is more relaxed, typical of eating pie off the ball, Schroder and James take the defensive attention away, and Davis just needs to put the ball in the basket.
When Davis was in the high post, he could also assist an empty layup by Russell who didn't have the ball.
These rounds, the Warriors can't start if they want to wrap up.
It seems that the Warriors may only have to start by changing the defensive alignment, with Looney defending Davis in the last game, and the Warriors having to let Green defend in the second. But this raises the question, Green was in foul trouble last time he got into foul trouble and was disrupted, will the main defender Davis get into foul trouble again?
Can James get back his three-point touch?
In the last game, the Warriors lost 54 points in the box, with a net minus of 26 points, and it is predictable that the Warriors will find ways to attack the box while trying to prevent their own box. And to guard against their own restricted area, the Warriors will definitely shrink.
The Warriors' contraction, first and foremost inside contraction, could be higher inside with Looney and Green, testing Davis' mid-range shots. In the last game, the proportion of the Lakers really hitting the three-second zone under the basket was not high, more in the penalty area, outside the three-second area, and it was very difficult for the Lakers to maintain a terrifying shooting percentage of more than 60% in this area.
The Warriors also made a mistake in the last game, perhaps because they hadn't adjusted their defensive habits after the series with the Kings, and when James picked up the ball a step away from the three-point line, Wiggins chose to press closely. As a result, James easily broke through to hit a layup. The correct way for the Warriors to defend should be to shoot without letting go, and Wiggins shrinks in to test James' jump shot.
In this year's playoffs, James' three-point shooting is sky-breaking, shooting just 18.4% from three-point range, while he averages seven three-point shots per game. James gave the Lakers three more possession of the ball after playing no-ball, but the effect of James playing no-ball on the spot jump shot could not be maximized. Once the Warriors choke James' counterattack and cut, James' production will plummet.
In the next game, if the Warriors shrink their defense as expected, James will have to take more opportunities to shoot from the open and shoot at least 3 of 8 three-pointers, otherwise the Warriors will only shrink indefinitely.