Re-watching the amazing Warriors defense (commentary by Being)

Another mega comment

Apricot says: This epic comment was hidden in the Mike Brown commentary, so I’m making it more visible here.

OK, so the whole discussion of Mike Brown and his defensive contributions led me down a YT rabbit hole of great videos dissecting last seasons' defense. I had a great time watching/re-watching some of these. I figured I'd go ahead and share.

Thinking Basketball: The Warriors defense is on another level! (12/13/21)

11:29 is hilarious, watching the Kings offense try and figure out what to do on the Dubs' zone.

I also love 14:29, watching the whole triangle and 2 cheat over to the weak side, b/c it's Kevin F'n Durant on Moses Moody.

Thinking Basketball: Why the Warriors are a Different Animal (5/19/2022)

The play @ 8:37 gives me so much joy: The Steph-Dray telepathy always astounds me.

BBALLBREAKDOWN: Warriors Dominating Because Of... DEFENSE?!? (5/23/22)

This one has both defensive breakdowns and successes.

Drawing the Defense: Why The Warriors Defense Dominates - Three Reasons It's Unique Among Switching Defenses (6/7/22)

2:14: Klay strength man. God, I love that man!

I love how his second point about ball denial. It's something I haven't seen talked about elsewhere. He showed multiple instances of denying the ball to Tatum by something akin to a perimeter seal. It's so different from how they denied the ball to Luka in the previous video. And its so specifically gameplanned to JT and all the Dubs defenders are able to adjust so seamlessly.

And of course, our own Eric Apricot:

Dub Nation HQ: Explain One Play: Warriors zone defense shape shifts, shuts down the Thunder (11/3/21)

3:48: Dre's hand twirl. I wonder if anyone's made an inventory of all the different hand signals' the Dubs used last year. I remember Triangle was for triangle & 2, and there was another one, like fist in the air for a different defensive formation (I think it was written about during the Jazz series), and this twirl for 2-3 zone. That would be a great retrospective vid, EA!

Dub Nation HQ: Explain One Play: Warriors #1 Defense with Bjelica, GP2, and Dray use Drop to clamp LaMelo Hornets (11/5/21)

3:00: I love the gratuitous Gordon Hayward shade. He's 31. It's not like he's PG3.

11:54: Fucking Steph, man. Way to be a cheerleader.

And to cap off the November trifecta:

Dub Nation HQ: Explain One Play: Warriors Triangle-and-2, Box-and-1 and other exotic defenses against KD and Harden (11/18/21)

4:18: Motherfuk'n A, man. Box & 1 with Bjeli on the island! Hilarious.

EA's whole vid is a great primer on the Dubs' different defensive formations, btw.

To the playoffs:

Dub Nation HQ: Explain: Steph Curry uses the LeBron defense against Luka Doncic, plus many more schemes in Game 1

9:29 The fact that Looney recovered for a block after so much miscommunication is effin' amazing. Watching Loon's amazing perimeter defense, I really worry that J-Dub just won't be able to fill his shoes in that regard. He'll have to be more of a drop-rim protector, but that means that the rest of the Dubs have to be more aggressive with rotations for him when he gets beat more regularly on the perimeter. Hopefully his rim protection on the defensive side will more than offset this.

12:15 WTF does Steph yell after the dance?

Dub Nation HQ: Explain: Steph Curry and Warriors Defense make adjustments, blow out Celtics in NBA Finals Game 2

5:15: Great example of a formation that looks like man, but ends up as box & 1 when OPJ refuses to follow GWill.

8:06: Another great example of Tatum ball denial.

11:55: I never noticed how Steph essentially calls JP's #, saying you finish off the quarter. We all know how the end of quarters is Steph's time to handle. Well, he ceded to JP, and of course, JP nails it not once, but twice. I wonder if JP tries/makes the buzzer-beater if Steph doesn't give tell him the previous possession is his to run.

Closing Thoughts

It's amazing to watch some of the Dubs' defensive rotations. The constant ability of all the defenders across the board to rotate intuitively, both anticipating and reacting to offensive motion and scheme regardless of whether they're in man or zone is absolutely mind-blowing.

After watching all of these, I struggle to make sense of the Dubs' first quarter blues this year. We all know how amazing their Q3's are, but they were often needed as the Dubs' early Q1's we're often awful. Maybe I have selective memory, but I remember a lot of times where the Dubs' seem slow in Q1 and the opponent has a strong scoring run to open the game. These defensive schemes seem like they would prevent that, as they are definitely tailored to the offensive personnel for the team they're facing (at least in the playoffs and for the Nets).

One of the things watching so many videos from the early season run makes apparent to me is how intelligent the bench rotations were even early in the season. OPJ, GP2, and Bjeli were new to the org, but they fit right in. JTA and DLee, but really, JTA, were vets in the system and could help direct the new guys and the rooks on where to go and how to rotate.

That makes me wonder about this years' group. Gone are all the players I mentioned above. Instead, JW, MM and JK are getting promoted into main rotation minutes, and DDV and JMG need to learn the system anew. Will DDV and JMG be able to fit in as seamlessly as OPJ, GP2, and Bjeli? It feels like one of the reasons the Dubs' defense coalesced so quickly last year was because of all the on-court coaching by all the vets like JTA/DLee/Dre on top of what Steph and Dray bring.

Who will play that role this season? Especially if Dre isn't on the roster, to boot? We know that most coaches and media expect MM to fit in very well into the rotations. But can he also be vocal enough to teach the new guys and the rooks and JK and JW when they flub? Or are the added minutes from Klay, plus another years' maturation from Wiggs and JP3 be enough to fill that void? I think we know that there are two players, especially who need to demonstrate massive improvement in their ability to play team defense: JFK and J-Dub. Whether or not those two can become positives or at least net neutrals at that part of the game will be a huge factor in their 'Chip chances next season.

Baldwin City

Watching EA's first E1P linked above, I suddenly had a vision of the future. We've all heard how much PBJ loves film by now. We also know all about his BBIQ, and how much influence having a coach as a father has had. I finally understand that JFK won't be Dray's understudy. It will be PBJ. Sure, he'll have to bulk up a bit to be able to defend in the post the way Dray does. And he'll have to heal from his injury to regain his high school top-5 prospect in the nation athleticism so he can have the lateral quickness to defend on the perimeter as well as the post. But I believe he'll have the physical tools. And now I believe he'll have the mental tools to understand the game as intuitively as Dray does. To anticipate offensive shifts as intuitively as Dray does. Buying a downtown warehouse loft in Baldwin City, baby. Gettin' in while real estate prices are low!

Addendum

Hey DNHQ creators: EA's vids are every bit as good as those others I linked. It made me wonder about DNHQ. Have you ever done a poll asking how everyone found you guys? Who came over from GSOM? Who found you via E1P YT vids? Who found you via Google search or other Dubs' forums? Who found you via Twitter?

Apricot says: No, I haven’t polled. But I think most people came from GSOM and have slowly accumulated over time. There is some crossover between YT and .com audiences, but they are more separate than I would have expected. I don’t see many of the YT commenters over here on the web site.