Film Analysis: The One Thing I Learned From Warriors-Lakers Game 2
The Warriors made it a focal point to wear out one specific Lakers starter.
I’m on record, so to speak, as saying that I believe the Los Angeles Lakers are going to win their second-round series against the Golden State Warriors.
It was something I tweeted out during the early parts of the second quarter of Game 2, a game that the Warriors then went on to win by 27 points in order to even the series. So, ya know, that aged poorly.
With that said, I still do believe the Lakers will get it done. I buy into their size a bit more, and while the Warriors obviously have the huge advantage in terms of three-point shooting and spacing, I think over a seven-game series the Lakers will wear them down and affect them more than vice versa. But that’s also why they play the games.
In Game 2, however, it did appear that the Warriors made a key adjustment beyond just having Stephen Curry on the ball more than he was in Game 1.
At least to me, it appeared that the Warriors were hunting guard Austin Reaves on the defensive end. Perhaps it was done to tire him out on the offensive end, or it could have been done simply because Golden State views Reaves as a weakness on the defensive side of the floor.
Whatever the reason, it worked. Reaves looked physically and mentally exhausted as he ran through a myriad of screens and actions that the Warriors dialed up.
In the end, the Warriors secured a much-needed victory to split the salvage a split over the first two games. So, how did they do it? Well, let’s watch.
The Warriors seemingly used Reaves’ own aggression against him.
Reaves, who is a good defender, can tend to be overly physical at times and attempt to get into the body of his assignment. What can happen when you do that, though, is you can be overaggressive to a fault, and the Warriors, specifically, Klay Thompson, used it to their benefit.
In the first clip, Draymond Green sets a ball screen for Thompson. When Anthony Davis steps up it allows Reaves to recover, thus forcing Thompson into giving the ball up. But you’re never truly done defending the action with the Warriors.
Thompson then runs off of a chip screen from Jordan Poole and finds himself completely open in the corner before Reaves can even get back to contest.
The second clip sees Thompson get another ball screen from Reaves, and this time Reaves tries to spin away from it in order to get back into the play. Unlike last time, Davis is late to come out to Thompson and hangs back a little bit more than he should, which frees up Thompson to launch a three-pointer before Reaves can recover.
Next, Reaves is in top-lock against Thompson on the initial action. It’s never really a bad idea to resort to that against elite shooters, but it can also work against you if the shooter knows exactly how to bait you into giving up space off of it.
As Reaves recovers to the initial pass to Thompson, he pauses for a brief moment. Almost as if he thinks he’s getting a rest due to Thompson not firing the initial look. Instead, Thompson runs Reaves into another Green screen, and he’s once again free to fire as Davis is hanging too far back to contest.
Lastly, Looney sets a pindown for Thompson after Reaves gets caught too flat-footed defensively. Thompson, yet again, is given too much free space and cans a triple.
The Lakers’ game plan is obviously to deny both Curry and Thompson the ball as much as possible, as we see on this play early in the second quarter.
After Thompson brings it up the floor, we can see Reaves attempting to ball-deny Curry on the left wing. But a key thing that the Warriors did in Game 2 was set screens for Curry further out than usual, at least compared to Game 1 for the most part.
Andrew Wiggins hits Reaves with a solid screen, and because Reaves is caught so far in a trailing position, it forces Dennis Schröder to have to help on Curry, which leaves Donte DiVincenzo open on the right wing for a three-pointer that brings the Warriors back within two of the Lakers.
Even on plays where Austin Reaves wasn’t specifically targeted, we can see just how much the Warriors are making the young guard have to move and defend. That becomes taxing over a full series, and one has to wonder what ramifications this could have on the Lakers over the next few games.
On this play, Curry pushes the ball in transition, dribbling behind his back twice to get both Reaves and Davis off-kilter. After firing a pass to JaMychal Green in the corner, Curry goes to relocate to the same area, and it forces Reaves to keep running at full speed in order just to keep up.
While Andrew Wiggins drills a three at the top of the arc, Reaves is still being run ragged by Curry on a play that Curry doesn’t get a direct basket or assist on. It also highlights the sheer power that Curry holds over defenses in general.
It’s hard to say just how much the defensive toll Reaves had to exert affected him on the offensive end, but after going 4-for-9 and scoring 10 points in a Game 1 win, Reaves only mustered seven points on 3-for-11 shooting in Game 2.
Not shockingly, the Memphis Grizzlies didn’t feature the offensive firepower that the Golden State Warriors have at their disposal, so it’s pretty obvious why defending Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson would wear oneself out quicker than defending Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones, the two main assignments that Reaves drew in the first round.
But it’s different with the Warriors, as well, considering the size they have on the perimeter. Thompson isn’t a wiry shooter. He’s strong, knows how to use his strength to get to his spots, and will bump you into screeners for an added jolt of freedom.
We saw that on display in Game 2 as Thompson would nudge Reaves into screeners to get a headstart on the action and spacing he would need to get shots off.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Lakers attempt to adjust to this in Game 3. One simple tweak would be not to have Reaves top-lock as much, but that also could yield worse results since Thompson (and others) would find more space coming off screens unless the helping big is further up on the play.
In the end, team defense is a harmonious endeavor. In Game 2, the Lakers found out that when one thing falls apart, it all can come crumbling down.
We’ll see what’s in store for Game 3 on Saturday.
Reminder: All content in May and June is completely free for former Patreon subscribers that have made the journey to Substack, and all content in May will be completely free for all readers in general.