As a Bay Area native, I watched plenty of Warriors games this year and am sickened by the offensive performance so far. I am not going to take all the credit from Cleveland’s defense; they have frustrated Curry, made the bigs ineffective and boxed out nicely. However, the Warriors’ offensive struggles are also internal. The shot selection has been awful, the ball is not moving around the court and there is not a lot of off-the-ball action we are used to seeing in Steve Kerr’s offense. Here are the three fixes that must happen for the Warriors to tie the series.
1. Start Andre Igoudala over Harrison Barnes
The Warriors signed Igoudala two years ago as a lockdown wing defender and point forward. He actually has a lot in common with LeBron James, but is obviously not as gifted. Yet, Igoudala has really played good defense on James this series. I get that everyone thinks James is King right now, but he was 14-34 last night, 11-35 in game two and 18-38 in game one. Sorry if a 39.8% field goal percentage doesn’t scare me. I know he opens up teammates and makes great passes, but he is not exactly killing it on offense.
While Barnes has really struggled on both ends of the floor, Igoudala has been a lone light in the series so far. Barnes has started all three games in the series, and in games two and three has played just over 60 minutes. He is 0-5 from three, 5-18 from the field with 10 points total in those two games. He had +5 rating in game two, while a -14 rating in game three. He has also let James basically get what he wanted whenever he wanted. Once Igoudala was on him, James struggled getting to the basket more. What separates Igoudala for me is his passing ability. Barnes had 0 assists in the last two games while Igoudala had 11. Igoudala has been able to play point-forward and also find open bigs on his drives to the basket. Igoudala is experienced and needs to start game four. The Warriors are not moving the ball well and Igoudala has been leading the charge in the passing game.
2. Give David Lee minutes please!
Down 20 points in the third quarter last night, Kerr was searching for anybody that would come in and play like they really wanted that game. Well, in came David Lee and he was the X-factor of the 4th quarter rally. Lee played 13 minutes but was 4-4 from the field for 11 points and actually attempted the most free throws of any Warrior. He also had four rebounds, two assists and no turnovers. He was the critical part of a 32-13 run. Why is Lee so effective? Kerr inserted Lee to run the pick-n-roll with Curry, and unlike Green, Bogut or Ezeli, Lee was rolling to the rim with a purpose. No, that purpose was not to just jump into Mozgov and hope for a call. Lee was either getting fouled, finishing or making nice passes to Barbosa for a lay-up and Igoudala for a three. Green is much better on defense than Lee but was 2-10 from the field and had a -14 rating. Lee had the highest of both teams at +17. Don’t get me wrong, I love Green, but Lee needs to see 20+ minutes in game four. He frees up Curry/other shooters because of his ability to finish at the rim and also had two big offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter for extra possessions, including a really nice putback dunk. He may give up a little intensity on defense, but the Warriors need his energy on offense.
3. Get Curry and Thompson involved early
Last night Curry only attempted six field goals in the first half, and didn’t wait until the fourth quarter really to start shooting. Curry scored 24 points in the second half, most in the fourth quarter, but needs to start shooting earlier. Both Curry and Thompson are so dangerous with confidence and need to get open looks early in the game. This involves better screens and better looks. Thompson and Curry are shooting contested shots early in the clock and they aren’t going in, allowing Cleveland to control the pace and the game. The Splash Brothers were combining for at 45-50 points almost every night in the regular season and need to get back there. We saw Curry start to drive a little in the fourth quarter and that set up his jump shots. We also saw Thompson throw down a vicious dunk over Mozgov in the first half as well. Both guys have the inside-outside game and need to utilize BOTH parts if the Warriors want to go back to Oracle with series tied.
