160 Comments

I haven't gone through all the comments, but has anyone pointed out that even if the Mavs had hit a respectable % of their 3's they still would have fallen short? The lead was up to thirty at one point which was how many more threes?--here, let me do the math...

Expand full comment

I thought the D was awesome. Yeah they missed some open looks, but there were also a lot of contested 3's including at least two that were blocked.

But what had me really excited was the absolute roasting of Dallas weaker defenders. They took it to Luka. Powell was useless out there. And they utterly abused Bertans in the short minutes he was out there.

That was always part of the Warriors secret sauce. Destroy the weak links early in the series, and get them excised from the rotation. If you end up in a tough series the guys that they really have to ride (Kleber, DFS, Bullock) hopefully will be gassed from overuse and won't hit as many shots.

Expand full comment
May 19, 2022·edited May 19, 2022

Something I think is being a little overlooked about all of those threes the Mavericks had...

Dallas is used to playing a deliberate slow game. The Warriors, particularly Steph, Klay, and Poole, run defenders through an absolute gauntlet on Dub offensive possessions. If it's in the open court it's obvious, but in the half court, a lot of running around screens. Guys like Bullock and Finney-Smith aren't used to that much effort on the defensive end and I think it took a little bit out of them on the offensive end, even early on it makes it harder to get as comfortable when taking those open shots.

I expect they'll hit more of those open shots moving forward, and hopefully we do a little bit better job contesting on some of those wide-open threes to counter, but the difference between playing another offense that has more static actions in the half court and doesn't run in transition much versus the Warriors should help blunt some of those more open looks they're surely going to keep getting.

Expand full comment

Rightfully Wiggins and Looney getting all the love! It bodes well for us when STEPH CURRY *12* REBOUNDS, 31 minutes is not even a main talking point :) quietly doing winning things.

Expand full comment

Amid all of the praise the broadcasters (deservedly) heaped on Looney last night, I think it was SVG mentioned how gassed he looked by the end and wondered how he'd hold up over the entire series playing like this.

I'd counter with how gassed Doncic looked and really wonder how HE will hold up. Warriors are really forcing him to work on both ends. He had to work hard on the offensive end (one of the disadvantages of going iso so much) and the Warriors really went at him on defense it looked like.

Let's just wear out Luka all series. They're the slowest paced team in the league for a reason. Especially after just having survived a seven game series, if the Warriors are continually able to speed things up for him and the rest of the team then I don't think this series goes past five games.

Expand full comment

I hope the Warriors are ready with some minor tweaks on Friday. I know Kerr is loathe to make real adjustments until we start losing games, but I really hope they can make some minor adjustments to stay a little ahead of the game.

Expand full comment

I know I am contractually bound to say it's only one game, but I see no reason for Dallas to have a lot of optimism in this series. The Warrior defense isn't going to let up. The offense might stall out at times but the defense is very well suited to what Dallas does. It's only one game. Not.

Expand full comment
May 19, 2022·edited May 19, 2022

Agree with belilaughs analysis below, I’m sure Joe will have some good commentary as well on GSOM tomorrow to go with Eric’s E1P here.

Hopefully we didn’t deploy this defensive scheme too early, I’d hate for Dallas to adjust to this too quickly and steal a game at Chase.

Expand full comment
May 19, 2022Liked by Duby Dub Dubs

Andrew Wiggins

Expand full comment
May 19, 2022Liked by Duby Dub Dubs

Listening to Doncic post game really makes me smile. After years of hating the heliocentric LeBron & Harens of the world that we've had to play against, Doncic just sounds like a nice down to earth teammate instead of a narcissistic windbag.

Expand full comment

A decade from now someone will be interviewing Kuminga about all the times he has faced Doncic in the postseason and dominated him, and try to provoke him into a controversial statement, and he'll say, "I just go out there and try to get better each and every day," because he always says that.

Expand full comment

I was telling Wiggins after he was scoring well that he couldn't stop on 17 tonight. He ignored me on getting to 25 as I suggested - but he was missing on most of his shots in the 3rd qtr. I'll take 19 pts as a "he hearrd me" win.

Expand full comment

Good game for us. Definitely wasn't as dominant as the score indicates because of a couple of factors (very subpar Luka game, they might be tired after G7 and obviously shooting variance), but still felt we were the better team overall. I think they were slightly better in the first half, but we completely annihilated them in the 2nd half.

Some observations which I think are important for the rest of the series:

1. JP cooking Kleber/DFS in isolation. This is huge, as those are 2 of their 3 best defenders and I'm guessing Bullock will be on Steph most of the time due to his incredible screen navigation. If JP is able to beat those guys regularly and get to the rim, that's probably the easiest offense we'll have all series long. They don't have anything close to a JJJ which is what Poole struggled with in games 4-6 against Memphis. Still, I think Ntilikina might give him problems in the 2nd unit, so hopefully Klay's able to help him by making some tough shots when Steph's out.

2. On the other hand, Poole was getting completely lit up by Dinwiddie/Brunson in isolation. We didn't leave Poole in an iso against Doncic, but we can guess the results. He needs to hold up better or we'll have to bench him when the Mavs start to figure out how to get isos despite the high-tag defense.

3. As for the Mavs, you guys seriously weren't prepared for the high-tag defensive strategy which has been a Warrior staple since 2017? That's absurdly bad from their coaching team. I feel like Kidd might be getting some of the praise that Ty Lue gets in that he screws up badly to start a series and then corrects his errors and makes really great adjustments. Obviously, he deserves praise for making the adjustments. But it would be nice if they don't start a series unprepared and on the back foot. For all my criticisms of Kerr, he always has the team incredibly well prepared for any series. I think our record in G1's demonstrates that.

4. Steph looked like Steph (shooting the ball) for 1 quarter. We need more of that, especially when Luka's playing well. Everything else was pretty good. A few wayward passes which would've been dunks for Memphis in the prior series, but overall a very steady game from the true Point God. And he held up on defense, especially on Brunson. Brunson's stronger than most guards and is able to bully them, but Steph ain't most guards.

5. Great Draymond game. A few dumb fouls, but apart from that he was amazing.

6. Pretty great Andrew Wiggins game (at least from a results perspective). A few ill-advised long 2s, but he made them tonight. That floater in the 1st was sexy though (didn't know Wiggins had that in him).

7. Related to the Draymond point, but I feel our biggest advantage this series is our ability to get easy stuff in transition. And Draymond was amazing at this (the Draymond Express lol). Compared to the Mavs who basically never get into transition (one of Luka's biggest faults imo), we can generate easier offense than them. I don't think our half-court offense is as good as theirs, but one way to alleviate that is not get into half-court as often.

8. OPJ and Looney were incredible. They're our core role players and they're the 2 players most vulnerable to the spaceball that the Mavs play, so seeing them play this well is very reassuring.

9. By the way, is Loon our best Doncic defender lol?

10. We got quite a few system buckets today on backdoor cuts (especially in the 3rd). Gotta think that the Mavs tamp down on those as the series goes along, but hopefully they take their sweet time doing it so that we win 1-2 more games.

11. Us shooting 29 3s and them shooting 48 3s is not a recipe for success for us long-term in this series imo. Need Steph, Klay and Poole to get up more 3s.

Overall, a very encouraging G1. Mavs and Luka will be much much better (perhaps as soon as G2), and Luka might be one of the guys who figures out a defense as the series goes along, but I think that G1 went about as well as could be expected.

Expand full comment

Another notable thing was that the Mavs were perfectly willing to let Doncic guard Wiggins 1 on 1, I assume because doubling to help Doncic like they did against other matchups probably leaves Curry or Klay or Poole open somewhere. Maybe they'll make an adjustment to that coverage, otherwise it's going to be imperative that Wiggins takes advantage of Doncic.

This is where having someone "overqualified" for a 3 and D role like Wiggins helps compared to a straight 3 and D guy like Bullock who the Warriors can guard with Curry, that playoff versatility to beat different defensive schemes.

Expand full comment

Picking up Doncic full court is one way to speed them up. Take an extra 3-4 seconds off the shot clock, and they have to go faster. And if they pass ahead or have somebody else dribble up, even better to make them take more time to get into their Doncic set. I really hope they keep at it.

Expand full comment

I just got to start watching the game, unfortunately busy during game time. Wow were we out to send a message in Q1. Wiggs picking up Doncic full court. Looney with the block. Dray with that cross court rotation for the block on the corner 3 that Steph got finger tips to. That was fun to watch. I have the rest of the game to go. Not as fun as live, a very diff experience to watch knowing the outcome.

Expand full comment