From Distance: Injured Dubs and Raptors’ D

four point play….

1. I’m sure many Cavs fans are slightly annoyed that the Warriors picked this year get the injury bug. After a run of exceedingly good health, nonsense about Curry’s 2016 faux injury withstanding, the Warriors find themselves down two games to one with only the faint hope of a rusty Kevin Durant and a hobbled Klay Thompson to save them.

The 2015 Cavs probably played my favorite team style with Delly, Bron, and Blatt leading the smashmouth attack. The Dubs play physical ball, but they have always been vulnerable to size and strength. Over the years, they have had trouble with Proto Grit and Grind, Thunder muck ball, and, well, P.J. Tucker.

The Cavs won in 2016 because they consistently forced Curry to guard on defense. The physicality required to continually switch and fight through screens set by larger guys off ball, and the resulting challenge of having to check LeBron or Kyrie onball,  left Steph Curry’s legs a puddle of jello.

Lazy sports media personalities (Simmons, I’m talking to you), have tried to attribute Curry’s ineffective 2016 Finals to a knee injury. We know that wasn’t the case. Curry was fine in the Western Conference Finals. Instead, it was smart offensive game planning that dually functioned as great defensive game planning. Curry couldn’t make shots because he had no legs.

With that in mind, I find it surprising that the Raptors have not targeted Curry’s defense as consistently as previous Cavs teams. One could say that their motion offense and desire to continually move the rock supersedes the necessity to target Curry’s smaller stature. Hunting mismatches can slow down good movement.

They won game 3 with 30 + assists, so they are probably right in their conclusion. But with Thompson coming back, and the inevitable return of Kevin Durant, I think the Raptors should focus a little bit more on tiring Curry thus preventing his 3-point shot from equalizing the series.

2. The Raptors do have his incredible size and intelligence. They are not saddled with playing smaller wings like Iman Shumpert in order to maintain spacing. Instead their bigs, notably Marc Gasol and to a lesser extent Serge Ibaka, are comfortable playing around the perimeter and hitting open shots.

Ibaka had a fantastic defensive game in Game 3. Beyond his shot blocking, his off ball screen rotation was mostly perfect. Ibaka took a page from his Spanish and Raptor teammate, Gasol in expertly navigating the small steps of help defense, leaning just far enough to prevent a screen action without losing primary responsibility.

Ibaka’s blocks didn’t come from block hunting. Instead he was great in transition defense and on time with his half court help responsibility. A couple of Ibaka’s blocks should have been called goal-tend, but whatever. Check out this fantastic defense from Ibaka and Green at the 23 sec mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83AMMfV0LhY&t=0m23s

Danny Green perfectly stays on the high side of Curry to keep him in a tough mid-range game, Ibaka stays attached to a rolling Bogut enough to prevent the lob and yet is able to block Curry’s floater with Green leveraging his length from behind.

More brilliant teamwork is at the 1:07 mark. Green boxout fights Bogut under the hoop, steps up to contest a Jerebko drive after Lowry expertly runs him off the line. All the while, Ibaka, falls off a successfully defended Green/Curry screen action on the right wing back down into the paint for the block. Big time Team D!!!!

Speaking of size, Pascal Siakam has fully realized that nobody playing for the Warriors is really large enough to prevent him from getting all the way to the cup. The few players that the Warriors employ that could stay with him in open space are currently injured, Kevon Looney and Kevin Durant.

Even Draymond Green seems to have difficulty with Siakam. Green is great, but he must seem tiny to Siakam after having to go against The Greek Freak. Pascal has an almost backyard style with his ability to throw people off with hesitation and jiggle. He has become a better left-handed finisher and ball-handler and it has unlocked his half-court prowess.

With Danny Green joining the playoff party, the Raptors can score from multiple angles. Yes, Lowry and Fred VanVleet need to continue to make shots, but even if they don’t, they still are winning players with their defense and ball/player movement.

So far, the team that absolutely needed the victory, came away victorious. It would have been a disaster for the Raps to lose Game 1 at home or Game 3 against the Warrior’s B team. Likewise for the Warriors if they would have come back to Oracle down 0-2 in the series.

Game 4 might be the first game that doesn’t have the same kind of necessity. One could argue that the Dubs need it more than the Raptors, but I would say Toronto is still required to beat the Dubs with Durant and Looney out, and with a hobbled Klay Thompson. You can’t let the Warriors get into a best of three series with Durant on his way back.

3. In non Finals’ news, rumors about Kyrie Irving going to the Nets have only increased after Brooklyn’s recent trade acquiring Taurean Prince and off-loading Allen Crabbe’s large contract. The Nets have set themselves up to potentially sign two Max guys in July’s free agency period.

To be perfectly honest, I would rather keep D’Angelo Russell and not bother with Kyrie Irving if I am the Nets. Sure, if acquiring Irving also guarantees the Nets an opportunity to acquire Kevin Durant, it is the right move. But if general word is true, Durant is not interested in going to the Nets. If that is the case,  there doesn’t seem to be a huge advantage of wrecking the Net’s ball movement and positive culture by bringing in ultimate ball stopper and weirdo, Kyrie Irving. Yes, Irving is essentially a better version of Russell on the floor, but I don’t trust him in a locker room anymore.

Regardless, it is a nice trade for the Nets. They didn’t have to give up a high pick, got off Crabbe’s contract, and acquired a younger, better version of DeMarre Carroll (current version Carroll isn’t the defender he once was. Prince isn’t a great defender, but it is rather hard for anyone to look good on the Hawks over the last couple years. He is probably better than his defensive metrics).

I don’t totally understand the move from the Hawk’s perspective. They got two first rounders for their trouble, but Crabbe is already an inferior player to Prince, and that disparity is likely to grow drastically. I suppose they will try to combine Crabbe’s 2020 expiring contract with some of their extra picks in a package for a superstar caliber wing. Maybe they can help facilitate an Anthony Davis deal? I dunno. They better do something good in order to justify getting rid of Prince.

4. I wish I liked a single player in the Cavs’ draft range. They all make me essentially sigh, shrug my shoulders, and mutter “whatever”. Darius Garland is intriguing I guess, but would likely be rough on the defensive end. Someone is going to convince themselves that Rodney Hood with longer arms, Cam Reddish will be able to learn how to play with intensity. De’Andre Hunter is probably going to be a solid player, but…………… sorry, I just napped a little.

You got anybody interesting?

I almost would enjoy going super big with Tacko or Bol just to have something different than what has been Danny G’s MO. Convince me of someone in the comments. And remember, “fit” should be totally irrelevant in the NBA draft. In the NFL, maybe, but not for the NBA. That is a recipe for disaster.