Warriors will try anything, everything against Doncic
SAN FRANCISCO >> In the days leading up to the Western Conference finals, conversation swirled around which Warriors player would defend Luka Doncic.
Turns out, it wasn't just a matter of who, but how the Warriors would defend the Mavericks star.
Doncic came into Game 1 the unstoppable superstar averaging 31 points per game while shooting 47% from the field in these playoffs. The Warriors limited him to 20 points and a playoff-worst 33% from the field in a dominant 112-87 win on Wednesday.
Containing Doncic didn't come down to one Warrior — though individual performances were key — but an impactful defensive scheme that cut off the Mavericks' offense at the source. The Warriors used a handful of defensive looks against Doncic and his Mavericks teammates to frustrate them throughout one of their worst offensive performances of the playoffs.
“You can't throw the same thing at Luka,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Every possession you have to be able to mix it up. He's too good. So we tried some of that and, you know, it's one game.”
In the first half, the Warriors tried out a box-and-1 defense and a zone defense. They trapped Doncic at times and often let Andrew Wiggins go one-on-one against him up the length of the court. Doncic even ended up with a scratch across the right side of his face from an unintentional Wiggins slash early in the first quarter.
“It's good,” Doncic said. “Makes me look tough.”
Those defensive looks worked over the course of the night. Doncic scored 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting in the first half and only scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting in the second half.
“They were doing a great job on me, especially in the second half,” Doncic said. “But I think I've got to be better. That's on me.”
The variety of defensive tactics the Warriors threw at Doncic kept the Mavericks off balance and out of rhythm. A stifled Doncic hit his teammates with passes beyond the arc to get their offense going, but Dallas only made 11 3-pointers on 48 attempts, good for a 23% shooting night from 3-point range. The Mavericks shot 36% from the field for the game.
The Warriors were airtight on weak-side defense and sharp on all of their rotations within their variety of looks.
On one play just before the first quarter ended, Draymond Green sniffed out a skip pass to the corner and, from the high post, rotated all the way to that corner to block a shot.
Late in the second quarter, Klay Thompson blocked a 3-point shot in that same corner on Dallas' desperate attempt to get an open look with Wiggins smothering Doncic on-ball and Spencer Dinwiddie making a quick pass to the corner, where Thompson wasn't far away.
It was an encouraging play for a Warriors team that has had a propensity for giving up open 3-pointers. It was an encouraging play for Thompson, too, who rebutted any talk of him losing a step defensively since he's recently returned from two major injuries.
“I still take pride in my defense, no matter what people say,” Thompson said. “If I lost it or not, (I) still think I'm a very good defender.
“I think our ball pressure and our help defense was spectacular tonight and if we want to take care of business Friday, we'll need a similar effort.”
The effort was led much of the night by Wiggins, who also defended Memphis guard Tyus Jones all the way up the court in the Warriors' clinching Game 6 win last series.
A full game's worth of full-court defense is a tiring task, but Wiggins isn't fazed.
“Eh, I feel like I'm young. I don't really get too tired,” Wiggins said. “I'm locked in. I'm motivated and when you see it work — or I feel like it's helping us play better, it just motivates me to do it more.”
Golden State threw the kitchen sink at Doncic and found all the success it needed to take a commanding series lead. But after watching the Mavericks erase a 2-0 series lead and steal the semifinal series from Phoenix in seven games, the Warriors expect Doncic and Dallas to have an answer in Game 2.
“We did an excellent job defensively, but we are under no illusion that we've figured anything out,” Kerr said. “We've just played really hard and competed and tried to contest shots. But there's a good chance those shots start going in next game.”