Not much Boogie in playoff opener
OAKLAND >> The Warriors don’t need DeMarcus Cousins to play well in their first-round series against the Clippers.
Given the overwhelming star power of the team, that would be a luxury.
But they would certainly prefer if he played better than he did in Game 1.
Cousins bordered on unplayable in his first-ever playoff game Saturday, as he both forced things on offense and was an easy mark for the Clippers on defense.
In all, Cousins scored nine points on 4-of-12 shooting, was the anchor of a second unit whose dreadful performance let the Clippers back into the game in the second quarter, and fouled out in only 21 minutes of action.
Yes, it’s only one game, but it called back to mind many regular-season concerns — ones that were seemingly exterminated but were once again made visible by the bright lights
of the playoffs.
And if Cousins cannot bounce back in Game 2 and show that Saturday’s performance was a oneoff, it throws the Warriors’ game plan against the Clippers and perhaps even future opponents into a state of flux.
Yes, in a series that lacks serious tactical drama — there’s little the Clippers can do to actually beat the Warriors — Cousins’ play is now center stage.
Of course, there are reasons to believe Saturday’s performance was a oneoff.
The biggest reason: Saturday was Cousins’ first NBA Playoff game. As Draymond Green put it Saturday, it doesn’t matter if you’re a 10-year NBA veteran, like Cousins, or an actual NBA rookie — if you’ve never played in the postseason before, you’re likely to be thrown for a loop. It’s like playing a different sport — there’s basketball, then there’s playoff basketball.
Cousins, in a blunt postgame press conference, denied that he was affected by the playoff atmosphere, though he did acknowledge that the environment for such jitters — an atmosphere far more charged than any regular-season contest — existed.
It likely didn’t help that the storyline of this being Cousins’ first-ever NBA Playoff game was
everywhere in the leadup to Game 1 — correlation or not, it was evident in the early goings of the contest that his Warriors’ teammates wanted to get him going, similar to his first few games after he came back from his Achilles Tendon tear, and that Cousins, never one to turn down good service, perhaps overindulged on this early looks, forcing up shots against two or three defenders the post.
A simple adjustment — moving Cousins to the perimeter for more offensive possessions — could alleviate many of the offensive issues that came with him on the court Saturday. The Warriors have done that before this season, and it has worked well. Against the Clippers, it could result in a massive offensive game for Cousins, too.
The overmatched Clippers picked their poison by refusing to guard either Cousins or Draymond Green on the perimeter in Game 1 (something they carried over from the regular season), and instead opting to devote more defensive attention to clogging the lane (which Cousins ran into several times) and double-teaming Durant. Cousins only attempted three 3-pointers on Saturday, making one, but if he hangs out beyond the arc in tonight’s Game 2, he’ll likely participate in a one-man 3-point shooting contest. He might not be Curry or Klay Thompson, but he makes more than a third of his 3-point shots — a high enough clip to where he should be allowed
to take as many open looks as he gets. The big man knocking down four or five and breaking the game wide-open is very much in play.
But to get those shot attempts, he’ll have to play better on the defensive end. And that is the hook of the pessimistic view.
Though it isn’t discussed as often as it should be, the playoffs are determined by defense, and Cousins, even when he’s playing his best, will never be confused with a plus defender.
In Game 1, the Clippers went directly at him time and time again, particularly targeting him in pickand-roll with Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. That combination, against Cousins, was arguably the one reason the Clippers were in the game so there’s little reason to believe LA will deviate from that scheme in Game 2 and beyond. This is the playoffs, after all — aesthetics be damned, teams will run the same play 100 times in a row if it brings results.
“If you’ve never been in a playoff game, you’ve never truly seen somebody scheme against you,” Green said. “In the regular season, you don’t really have time to focus on a scheme.”
Cousins and the Warriors will no doubt try to make an adjustment for Game 2 — the big man’s teammates can help him out a bit more than they did on Saturday — but does Cousins have it in him to be at least an adequate
defender against pick-and-roll in this series?
If he doesn’t, what does that portend for the second round, when the Warriors will face one of the two best pick-androll teams in the NBA, the Rockets (with James Harden, Chris Paul, and Clint Capela) or the Jazz (with Ricky Rubio and Rudy Gobert)?
The Warriors have Kevon Looney (who was fantastic) and Andrew Bogut (a solid rim protector who will protect the ball on offense) on the bench, as well as Green, who can slide up to center for a few more minutes than usual, given Harrell’s lack of height. Steve Kerr doesn’t need to play Cousins, he chooses to play him because he’s one of the most talented big men in the league. The Warriors are positive and optimistic about Cousins now, but these are still the playoffs: coaching credit is stingy as results are all that matter, and Cousins has some debt to pay.
We’ve seen Cousins bounce back from what could have been a careerending injury to play this season and he’s bounced back, admirably, after poor games in his short Warriors’ career.
That toughness and resiliency have done him well — they’ll likely make him nine figures this upcoming offseason as a free agent. But one game into the postseason, it’s being tested again.
So, does Cousins have another bounce-back in him for Game 2?