Basketball Daily Dose: Dose: Death Lineup's Funeral?
Hey, so who’s the best point guard in these playoffs? If you thought it was going to be the 2016 unanimous MVP Stephen Curry, you’d be dead wrong. Russell Westbrook has stolen the show with a triple-double during a 118-94 destruction of the 73-win Warriors team.
Westbrook’s stat line was massive with 36 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, four steals, four 3-pointers and six turnovers in 41 minutes. His energy was off the charts and it totally disrupted the Warriors defense. He found his open teammates and was unstoppable in transition. The “Is Westbrook a point guard?” takes from years ago might be one of the worst of all the past decade. He has at least 11 assists in each of his last five games. Westbrook has his team as the favorite for the title right now and he’d be the favorite for Finals MVP. It’s not the same trophy, but this applies:
While Westy gets the headlines, the surprise was Andre Roberson playing the game of his life. He was basically left alone early in the series with the Warriors putting Draymond Green “on” him as a free safety to be the backbone of their D. Roberson cut the Warriors to pieces and hit open treys on Tuesday, scoring a playoff career-high 17 points with 12 rebounds, three assists, five steals, two blocks and one 3-pointer in 40 minutes. His defense was superb in the halfcourt and perhaps even better to get the Warriors out of rhythm in transition — a place they made their money all season. His improved play on the offense end is why OKC is killing it with their best lineup in this series.
Speaking of lineup moves, coach Billy Donovan managed to outfox coach Steve Kerr yet again. All season, the vaunted “death lineup” of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green posted a league-high +47 net rating (minimum of 80 minutes). However, it has been absolutely smashed on in each of the last two.
Just like in Game 3, it was all about the Westbrook, Dion Waiters, Roberson, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka lineup doing the damage. Several times Kerr would go to put his death lineup in and Donovan would send the players he needs to combat the Warriors at the exact same time to check in. It worked again and again.
In the last two games, that OKC lineup has an unfathomable +89.3 net rating in 26 minutes. The “death lineup” has been a -92.0 — whose death are we talking about? On top of the small size, they killed the Warriors on the glass with a 64.3 total rebound percentage. Simply put, it’s an unbelievable coaching job from Billy Donovan.
Back against the Spurs, Donovan took a whole different approach with Enes Kanter and Steven Adams carrying them late. Now, Kanter barely plays with just nine minutes on Tuesday (one point and two rebounds). Adams has been out there for the bulk of the non-elite lineups with 25 minutes (11 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block). Massive, massive props to Billy D.
To round out the Thunder, Kevin Durant was so-so on offense with 26 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, four steals, three blocks and one 3-pointer. His defense has really been the key. In fact, the Thunder were not good at all with the KD-Ibaka frontcourt during the season. Now it’s ridiculous. Dion Waiters has also been a bit of an unsung hero, finishing with 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and two 3-pointers. Waiters, Adams and Bismack Biyombo have been the story.
As for the Warriors, this was one of their sloppiest games all season. A lot of it had to do with Roberson going off because they likely weren’t anticipating guarding him so much. The Warriors’ offensive calling card all season has been making teams switch on players and just getting open looks. Well, that’s exactly what the Thunder did to them for 48 points in the paint to go with their 31-of-40 from the line. Plus, the Warriors were actually getting back on defense to limit the Thunder to 18 fast break points — OKC had 29 fast break points in Game 3. However, getting back killed them because the Thunder crushed them on the glass with a 64.3 total rebounding rate from their killer lineup above.
The biggest question on the Warriors has to be what’s up with Stephen Curry? He was just 6-of-20 from the field for 19 points with five rebounds, five assists, two steals, six turnovers and two 3-pointers. He just wasn’t getting open despite what looked like a better gameplan tonight compared to Game 3. He had more off-ball screens, but the Thunder just aren’t biting like most teams do — again, credit to Donovan. Besides a couple outbursts, Curry hasn’t looked like MVP Steph most nights.
“No, I’m fine,” Curry said after being asked about injuries. Curry obviously isn’t going to say anything else to put a target on his back. Injury aside, the Warriors have to figure out a way to get him more comfortable. It’s hard to believe a team is killing the Warriors with athleticism.
Klay Thompson scored 19 points in a row for the Warriors in the third quarter, finishing with 26 points, five rebounds, one assist, three steals, one block and four 3-pointers. Just like Curry, Klay is using too much energy on defense and it’s thrown him off. He had a lot of dribble drives and wasn’t open as much around the 3-point line.
So maybe the Warriors would’ve been better off without Draymond Green? He was all over the place on offense and was completely out of it on defense. Green finished with six points, 11 rebounds, two assists, three steals, one block and six turnovers. He will tell you about how he can play many positions, but he couldn’t play any well on Tuesday. Basically:
We’ll be back tomorrow for the podcast to talk about what’s next for the Warriors!
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News and Notes
Coach Dwane Casey said he’s not sure if he’s going to use Jonas Valanciunas. He’s not sure he trust Valanciunas against a floor-spacing lineup, which has become coach Ty Lue’s go-to move. Basically, we won’t see JV unless Bismack Biyombo is in foul trouble or the Cavs make some major changes and go big. Based on Tristan Thompson playing just 0.3 minutes in the fourth, we probably won’t see Jonas “The Panic Button” Valanciunas.
Sticking with that thought, coach Ty Lue said he likes going small and spacing the floor with Channing Frye. This makes a lot of sense because it makes Biyombo stretch out farther on the weak side to open things up. If I’m Dwane Casey, I give serious thought about putting Biyombo on LeBron James. Biyombo shouldn’t have to play LeBron too tightly on the 3-pointers and he showed some solid lateral movement on perimeter defense. Obviously Biyombo shouldn’t be guarding LeBron for the entire game, but it’s a nice little wrinkle while the Cavs go small.
Coach Frank Vogel has been raving about his players. This isn’t Earth-shattering news, but anyone has to like how Vogel is talking about running more pace. Plus, Vogel said he’s a big fan of Mario Hezonja. Giddy up.
