Warriors are not scared of anything, and that should petrify rest of NBA
SAN FRANCISCO » This is the Warriors’ 23rd playoff series since Steve Kerr took over as the team’s head coach.
That’s more than 100 playoff games under Kerr for the Warriors’ dynastic core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
They have seen it all. They’ve faced much tougher competition and more challenging circumstances than what they saw Friday. And they’ve never lost a Western Conference Playoff series.
That’s why after their disaster-class of a first half in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, the Warriors didn’t panic or change the fundamentals of their game plan.
They stayed the course. Yes, they executed better and there were a few small tinkers, sure, but the Warriors trusted their process.
They’ll head to Dallas Saturday up 2-0 in the series, following a 126-117 win.
That streak of West playoff series wins won’t end this year.
The Warriors have a lot of advantages over Dallas in this series. That will decide it in their favor.
But on Friday night, their biggest advantage came to the forefront: their poise.
A lesser team would not have kept its nerve Friday.
(And while a better team would not have put itself in such a circumstance, that’s a story for a different day, a different series.)
Dallas scored 72 points in the first half, knocking down 15 3-pointers in two quarters, and shooting 55 percent from beyond the arc. Every one of those looks was open — the strokes pure. There was little reason to believe Dallas was going to start missing anytime soon.
Meanwhile, the Warriors kept giving the Mavericks extra possessions — they had 10 first-half turnovers — and Thompson and Green were doing far more harm than good on both sides of the floor.
Dallas did make a key adjustment between Games 1 and 2: they set
higher picks for Luka Doncic and they set them earlier in the shot clock.
Doncic knew exactly what to do with the extra space and time — he passed it on to his teammates.
It was already not looking like the Dubs’ night, and then Golden State’s second unit, which started the second quarter, turned a seven-point deficit into a 19-point hole in less than five minutes of action.
The Warriors went into the locker room down by 14. They can thank Curry it was even that close.
In a campaign in which teams collectively shot nearly 10 percent more 3-pointers than ever before, 106 teams scored 72 points or more in a regular-season first half.
Those teams won 90 percent of those games.
The Mavericks put 72 on the board through two quarters four times this season. They went fourfor-four.
But, again, the Warriors have seen this before. They’ve beaten this before.
And Dallas is finding out that the Warriors’ temperament is wildly different than their previous playoff opponents, the Jazz and Suns.
“These guys are champions,” Kerr said of the Warriors — and himself. “They are not afraid of anything.”
I received a bit of grief for comparing the Mavericks and the James Harden-led Rockets before this series. No, it’s not a perfect parallel. Who
would want to completely recreate a team that consistently lost big series?
But Friday night, we were all transported back to Oracle Arena or Toyota Center — sorry I can’t pinpoint the arena… the days have blurred together in my memory.
Dallas didn’t go on an 0-for-27 stretch from beyond the arc, but they did exactly what the Rockets did time and time again against the Warriors: They tired out. They lost their cool.
When asked after the game if his team was simply too inexperienced to win, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd was quick with the retort:
“No.”
He then explained how his team needs to play better situational basketball.
So, yes?
Regardless, the Mavericks only made six 3-pointers in the second half, all while their already suspect defense continued to deteriorate.
“We just needed to get poised,” Kerr said of his team. “We felt confident if we did that, they wouldn’t make 15 threes in the second half… If they do, you pat them on the back and say ‘nice job’… but that’s hard to do, especially if you’re solid defensively and staying in your principles and being physical and rebounding.
“An NBA game takes forever.”
The Mavericks are finding that out right now.
The 3-point shot might
be the NBA’s great equalizer — a tool that can steal a game or two for the little guys — but in the big games, the big things still win. This is a macro battle and on the whole, the Warriors are the better team.
For instance: Dallas entered this series without a rim protector. They did not find one between Games 1 and 2. Kevon Looney took full advantage with the greatest game of his career — something we said after Game 1, too.
But Jordan Poole, Curry and even Thompson did, too.
Golden State scored 38 of its 62 points in the paint in the second half, going 19-of-25 from that portion of the floor in the final two quarters.
Dallas finally adjusted on defense in the fourth quarter, throwing an extra body into the paint, but the Warriors were looking for that adjustment. Suddenly, Golden State was getting good looks from beyond the arc and subsequently knocked down 5-of-7 from distance in the fourth quarter to ice the game, despite Doncic’s best, noble efforts.
Dallas will likely catch a game at home. They’re getting too many good looks from beyond the arc to not win one.
But four of the next five?
No, sir. That’s not happening.
The Warriors are simply too poised to let that happen.