Originally compiled from: The Athletic
Written by Tim Kawakami
原标题：Kawakami: Inside the Warriors’ Game 5 plan to run the Lakers and keep running
The Warriors defeated the Lakers in the G5 life and death battle, continuing the suspense of the series, how did the Warriors win?
Picking up the pace, the warriors ran
On Wednesday, Drummond Green and Stephen Curry began their relentless run for the continuation of the dynasty's life, and they will continue to run until this series, this playoff, until everything is over. They will run until someone stops them, or runs to the end of time. Run with despair. Run with a goal. Run and see who can stop them.
The Warriors rushed to the Lakers in Game 5. They met the Lakers. They ran past the Lakers. They let the Lakers run after them. They will also continue to run in race six, and if they can survive the G6, they will run more in race seven. In the end, whoever can stand at the finish line, gasping with pride, will survive the second round series of the playoffs.
More specifically, Drummond, Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton II and Jordan Poole turned Game 5 into a four-quarter sprint and avoided elimination by defeating LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers 121-106 at Chase Center. Of course, the Lakers still lead 3-2 and could knock out the Warriors on Friday in Los Angeles, where they lost their third and fourth games and put themselves in trouble.
But in some very effective strategy tweaks in Game Five, the Warriors' clear and determined efforts to grab every rebound and start the sprint seemed to have a huge potential impact on the game. Indeed, this could determine which team still has the upper hand in the later rounds of this title fight. The Warriors want to put as much effort into LeBron and Davis as possible (if he's fine after being hit in the fourth quarter on Wednesday and leaving the game early).
"We want to push their players to run," Steve Kerr told me after a press conference. "I'm sure they feel the same way. In the last game, they put Curry in a non-stop block, they just wanted to exhaust Curry. We also try to burn out Davis and LeBron. It's a long series. So it's a war of attrition and we have to keep picking up the pace. ”
Keep running to disrupt the Lakers' defensive arrangement
Official figures show the Warriors scored 13 points on the fast-break. The Lakers scored 15 points. But the Warriors' game was far faster than the original overall speed. When Drummond was running as fast as he could on the court, he not only forced Davis and LeBron to run, he also forced the Lakers into emergency defensive form, so that they were less stable even when possessing the ball in the half-court offensive and defensive rounds.
"Pick up the tempo early because they're a great defensive team," Cole said. "Any time we come across a team that is so good at half-time, you have to run out and create an advantage so you don't get stuck in a preset defence. I think the players set the tone in the first half. Drummond was pushing the ball frantically, so was Curry, and his teammates were running.
"Fast-break scores never tell the story. Sometimes you just push the ball forward, which creates a cross-misplaced chaotic defense, and then you throw the ball out and someone else gets an open position. It may not be called a fast attack, but it is the result of the rhythm. ”
Cole changed lineup again, and the small lineup had an effect
The Warriors could play faster with their new starting lineup (Game 4), with Gary Payton II replaced Kevin Rooney. While Payton wasn't an offensive playmaker, he improved his pace with excellent defense, which helped the Warriors avoid excessive fouls and frequent stoppages against the Lakers. And Payton Jr. (game-best 27 minutes + 25 points) is also a great runner, able to complete the fast break (he scored 13 points) and can drag the Lakers players all the way to the basket as fast as he can.
The Warriors are also trying to increase Davis' workload at halftime, involving him in every block of Curry and pulling him to the three-point line. On Wednesday, that opened the way for Drummond's breakthrough (27 points in the first four games of the series, 20 on Wednesday), Wiggins' mid-range shooting (25 points on 10-of-18 shooting) and Poole's recovery, who shot just 5 of 14 but had a rhythm throughout the game.
Has all this made the Lakers lose some of their vitality? In the second half, Davis scored just five points in the 12 minutes before leaving the game, with a plus/minus of -8. LeBron excelled throughout the game, but after playing 43 minutes in Game 4, he played as many as 39 minutes in Game 5. The Warriors' stars also played a lot of time, but perhaps for the taller and stronger Lakers, the losses would be different.
Either way, the Warriors were determined to keep the sprint going through the fourth quarter. The continuation of this dynastic era may depend on this. A four-time championship team doesn't die easily. This is when they really start running.
"I think it's mostly up to me, Drummond, (Poole), when AD is there, to run and to push the pace of the game," Curry said. "But it's important because they sometimes use big lineups that have AD. He puts a lot of pressure on you on the offensive end. So you have to build an advantage as best you can. This is a very important thing. Part of that is trying to keep them as far away from the free throw line as possible, because free throws slow down the game and allow them to score unobstructed, allowing them to build their defense.
"So you want to intercept every attack, even if they end up scoring. But that's what we have in the series, which is our speed, the fact that I can advance, Drummond can advance, Poole can push, we have players running in conversions and pulling space. So even though it's not easy to do, it helps us fight what they're good at. ”
Van der Biao's defensive magic failed
The small-ball lineup had another effect: It largely kept the Lakers' best outside defender, Jared Vanderbilt (who played just 11 minutes on Wednesday), from playing because the Warriors didn't defend him at all, which completely destroyed the Lakers' offensive space. This allowed Schroder to play more, and the Warriors' offensive end put that to good use.
In addition, in Game Five, the Warriors focused on trying to keep Curry away from blocking, while the Lakers locked Curry in Game 4 by forcing Curry one-on-one with LeBron and other scorers again and again. On Wednesday, the Warriors allowed Wiggins to break through cover instead of changing defenses, allowing Curry to remain on his own for most of the time.
"We're doing better tonight," Cole said. "We're not afraid of Curry changing defenses because he's stronger. He's not the same as he was seven or eight years ago. But if we can avoid it, then we can also avoid it, instead of letting them get him stuck in the block again and again. ”
Can the G6 Warriors' run-and-bomb tactics still work?
The Warriors are almost certainly unlikely to repeat the G5's performance when they return to Los Angeles on Friday. The Lakers will play better. Role players are more likely to do surprising things at home than away from home, as Lonnie Walker scored 15 points in the fourth quarter of G4 in Crypto.com Arena. But the Warriors believe they have Payton Jr. in their starting lineup to face DeAngelo Russell. They knew they could compete with the Lakers. They don't know if they'll win Game Six, but as they've done in many playoff series before this, the Warriors have found some solutions they like.
Hey, they avoided being eliminated, even without outside shots from Curry and Klay. In the fourth game, both did not perform well, and in the fifth game, neither played out. On Wednesday, Curry shot 3-of-11 from three-pointers and Klay on 3-of-12 three-pointers. So G6, can they expect one or two of the Splash Brothers to get into shape anytime soon?
"We're still looking forward to the next game, which is a good sign," Cole said. "I think we played well tonight, but not the best. We can do better. We can be sharper. But I like that we didn't foul tonight. I think they made 15 free throws, which is fair. We also took 15 free throws. For the most part, we handled the ball well and bounced back strongly. These are the keys to victory. If we do these things, whether it breaks out or not, we can win. But if we do those things and get a hot shooting night, we're going to be in good shape. ”
The Warriors aren't over yet. The end may or may not come soon. But you can tell it in the way they look and the way they attack: the Warriors' run isn't over yet, because they haven't given up running. The faster they run, the harder it will be for the Lakers to beat them outright.