The Warriors' Interior Defense is slowly but surely picking up this season
The Warriors had one major weakness coming into the 2016-2017 NBA season. However, due to building chemistry and collective effort they are on pace to patch it.
If you ever wondered what exactly this weakness was, it was the one thing that was sacrificed for acquiring Kevin Durant. The Warriors interior defense was all but non-existent once they decided to part ways with Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli.
The Warriors were dead last in points allowed at the beginning of the season. Now that we are 17 games in, Golden State has changed that narrative greatly as they have risen to 19th in points allowed while bolstering a 12 game winning streak following a 117-97 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in early November.
Needless to be stated, the Dubs have made strides in solidifying their team defense by rallying around their lengthy athletic wings and being a more disciplined, tough team on the defensive end. While they lost quite a few elite defenders in the process of acquiring the 2012 MVP, Steve Kerr and Ron Adams have made a way out of no way, so to speak.
The other positive in all of this is that they have somehow increased the potential of their defense by making two simple and savvy moves.
Nov 26, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine (8) shoots between Golden State Warriors center Zaza Pachulia (27) and forward Kevin Durant (35) during the fourth quarter at Oracle Arena. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-102. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee are using their individual abilities to become less of an easy target.
Zaza Pachulia has never been a big leaper. He is a strong and intelligent basketball player who is capable of adapting to any scheme you feature him in. On a side note, Pachulia is getting after it offensively which is a great look for the Warriors. Back to his defense.
He has developed a unique prowess as a help defender and positional defender in Golden State’s system. The veteran center is putting his vast basketball intelligence to use and finding ways to be in the right place at the right time and has been more frequently been forcing the offense to abort mission when attacking the rim.
Zaza has improved his pick and roll defense and is really becoming a little bit less of a liability on that end especially in the post. A good post player will score regardless, but Steve Kerr just needs Zaza to make it tough on offensive players when they decide to go at him.
That will take the Warriors a long way as their improved points allowed ranking is suggesting. The trend is going up for him and this spells really bad news for opposing teams coupled with the natural potency of Golden State’s historic (yes i said historic) offense.
Nov 26, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins (22) dunks the ball against Golden State Warriors center JaVale McGee (1) during the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-102. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
The Warriors should be absolutely impressed with how JaVale McGee is learning to be an interior presence.
JaVale McGee is showcasing all of the tools he has as a rim protector. He is showing toughness and grit while utilizing his ridiculous athleticism to be mobile and timely in providing help around the paint. He has long limbs, quickness, and he is showcasing some great basketball IQ. By the way, some of his blocks utterly humiliate opponents. Like this one on Andrew Wiggins, who is definitely one of the most athletic wings in the league:
Plays like this are merely highlights, but McGee has earned them by getting better and better at reading plays and just getting in position as quickly as possible. Golden State may be the destination for McGee because he can obviously excel at being a deterrent in the paint and has also been a great contributor on offense due to his ability to run the floor.
The important part here is really that he is figuring out how to punish players for trying to challenge him at the rim and with good perimeter defenders to back him up this ability should only improve over the course of the season. All in all his cold-blooded mindset around the rim and big play potential will help fill some of the void Andrew Bogut left.
Nov 26, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) high fives forward Kevin Durant (35) after a basket against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-102. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
In the midst of all of the improvement some credit here goes to Kevin Durant and the perimeter players.
The Warriors guards and wings. Guys like Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, and even guys coming off of the bench (Ian Clark, Patrick McCaw) have made a decision to defend by committee and it is safe to say it is working.
The discipline the Warriors have shown in defending in general and effort to make Pachulia and McGee’s roles easier is an indictment of how these guys play for one another. They have made an effort to not gamble as much and be solid defending dribble penetration while running teams off of the three point line and into bad situations.
As a result they are creating so many turnovers, which fuels their unstoppable transition game. I also love how they are rewarding their bigs for making plays on the defensive end of the floor. Kevin Durant deserves so much praise here.
To be a star like him and give such effort into helping with rim protection is just amazing. He realizes that protecting the interior will be key to winning a championship this year and he is seizing the opportunity to increase his overall impact by putting that 7 foot 6 wingspan to good use. He racked up SIX blocks against the Timberwolves last night and that played a huge part.
While scoring is great, the Warriors are going to need to be middle of the pack or even elite defensively, and with this colossal team effort plus the defensive prowess of Draymond Green, who did not play last night, the Warriors will be just fine defensively and Dub Nation should love to see this team coming together defensively!
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