The defensive miscues of the Warriors’ all-bench lineup

At the 2:31 mark of the first quarter, Denver Nuggets, Steve Kerr sat Stephen Curry for Donte DiVincenzo. This completed the line-up for Second His Unit consisting of DiVincenzo, Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, Jamaican Green and James Wiseman.

This was the first defensive possession the lineup faced.

The end result is DeAndre Jordan getting a deep post position against James Wiseman — too deep for Wiseman to deter, against a particularly smart veteran. He bumps and dunks Wiseman to prevent any kind of contest.

But what preceded the results was more interesting.

Straying from their baseline out-of-bounds (BLOB) set, the Nuggets had the DJ set a wide pin-down of Christian Brown. Jordan Poole is obsessed with his DJ picks. As a result, Wiseman is left alone to defend him virtually two-on-one. He dissuades a shot from Brown, but Brown plays smart and hands it to DJ, who then scores.

This possession occurred one minute later. See if you can find a correlation.

This is essentially the same action as the first clip: an empty corner ball screen with no help from strongside corners. Much like Poole, DiVincenzo hits his DJ screen and frees Bones Hyland to fly his jumper midrange. Wiseman is deep because he has fallen into the drop.

The above owning is a bit of an anomaly when it comes to coverage selection.of golden state warriors Under Steve Kerr, they usually preferred to “ICE” these sideball screens. A term that refers to denying and preventing central intrusion. This “no middle” concept has been the backbone of an overarching defensive ethos for much of the Warriors’ dynasty.

But Hyland finds another way to score when DiVincenzo “ICEs” the ball screen on the ensuing possession.

Most of this is due to ingenuity from Hyland. In other words, a cap tip to him who found a way to kiss the ball out of the glass. But to say the least, I could have defended myself better. Wiseman worries about possible dump-offs to DJs, but that’s why Jonathan Kuminga helps roll by “tagging” or touching his DJs. It would have been better if Weisman had focused on stopping the ball and dissuading Hyland from shooting.

Hyland scores on nearly the same possession — no screen this time:

DiVincenzo does his job. He forces his Hyland to his sidelines and calls for help. Trust is key when it comes to backline defense. DiVincenzo trusts someone behind him to spin around and help drive. JaMychal Green shows help at first, but hesitates for fear of a pass to the strongside wing.

Ultimately, help has to come from Wiseman. Again, he’s too worried about dumping him off on his DJ at the Dunker Spot.

Help instead beats too late and Hyland scores with another layup.

Another attempt at “ICE” from DiVincenzo was countered by the DJ abruptly flipping the screen angle — not once, but twice:

When the Highlands dominate the middle ground, this is where Jamaican comes in. Jeff Green sits in the wing/slot area weakness, but has been below league average (34%) in his career. His 3 over the break last season had a 32% shot completion percentage on him, which would make him comfortable keeping him open temporarily.

JaMychal shows help with his “nail” (the middle part of the free throw line) and virtually switches to highland to block the middle penetration. “next” coverage.

Naturally, Jeff opens one pass ahead. As the closest source of help, JaMychal is entitled to help and then recover towards Jeff. Unfortunately for Jeff, he digs three—risks that went wrong.

Perhaps the most egregious defensive collapse occurred at the end of the first quarter.

Most people will probably note that Jeff is wide open in his weak corner on threes, but the breakdown happens much earlier, on attack. This time, the culprit is him DiVincenzo. He blows the Highlands away with little resistance. DJ seals Kuminga in the lane (“Goltat” screen) and Jamaikal is forced to leave the corner and “trap the box” as Roman. Hyland senses a wide open corner and passes. Even Jeff, who shot just 31 percent of his corner 3s last season, is given far too much leeway and time.

All bench lineups struggled to contain action at the point of offense until the 8:49 mark of the second quarter, when Kevon Looney and Andrew Wiggins were finally re-entered, with the Nuggets trailing the Warriors to 12. I surpassed the score. A point during a stretch of nearly 6 minutes. Communication was non-existent, hesitation dominated over assertiveness, and the aforementioned trust was unwarranted or absent.

Kerr has some work to do when it comes to seeing which second unit combinations work and which ones don’t. Clearly, this iteration with Weisman-Green-Kuminga as the frontcourt poses a number of problems not only on the defensive side, but also as units lacking the necessary space, with ball handlers working in virtual phone booths. increase.

Poole only attempted five shots and had four turnovers. Part of that can be attributed to an overall lack of aggression, but part of it is the improved performance of the Nuggets offensive point defenders Bruce Brown and Kentavius ​​Caldwell-Pope. It must be from a unit.

But a good chunk of his struggles can apparently be attributed to the space (or lack of space) he had to work with.

But the defense was the more sore point. To illustrate the difference, look at how defensive possession trends changed when Wiggins was included in the second unit in the fourth quarter.

Another late change Kerr made was the inclusion of Moses Moody, who had an immediate impact in points of offense and pick-and-roll defense:

After all, the reality is, for a variety of reasons, ditching every bench lineup Poole has put forward is not a viable path to second-unit success. , so it is expected to perform much better in terms of on/off metrics.

But it’s clear that all the starters have a positive plus/minus mark and the bench squad (except JaMychal) have a negative plus/minus mark. Even without looking at the numbers, Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay can tell that he’s much better and more influential with Thompson on the floor.

Green, in particular, was a defensive maestro — nothing new or shocking, but still a sight to behold.

The Warriors outscored the Nuggets 71-58 in the second half, aided by a starter and improved second unit combination. But his 70-52 first-half rampage by the Nuggets—all benched from the second half of the first quarter to the first half of the second—backed by his crucial six-minute overtime from his lineup—ultimately , the Warriors participated.