4/5 Game 77 - Warriors (42-34) @ Mavericks (46-30) 5:30pm

[vvoland]

That Klay play was absolutely Klay's fault. He got beat by THJ and TJD is supposed to help there. THJ is slow and has a weak handle, so Klay was able to recover, but when a guys beat, the instinct from the big is to help. A great defender like Green may have read the situation quickly and realized THJ isnt scoring from that position over Klay, but you cant expect a rookie to pick that up. He saw Klay get beat and he rotated like youre supposed to

lol like almost of this isnt true, especially in the Warriors system

- Klay was on his hip as soon as the drive started
- bigs in our system hedge, not run up for blocks
- THJ was late in doing that and prevented Dray from sealing out PJ Washington

Sure, dont expect the kid to do it right. But then dont play him, because no matter how much you guys want to blame Klay for this, he did his job and the rookie didn't

Klay executed that defensive play as well as he could have, outside of getting a steal or deflection. I'd much rather have hardaway going left, fading and shooting on the move than him having enough space to rise up and shoot over Klay off a standstill.

As cdm points out, tjd absolutely does not need to fly out there and his timing throws off dray's rotation. Could dray have rotated better to the man as opposed to looking at the ball and being a step late? Yes, but it's about as fair as asking klay to make that 3.

[jozef]

Wow, that's unbelievable that you put a blame on TJD!

What happened there: Dray spent TOO MUCH time to double on Kyrie and had a long way to go back. Kyrie passed the ball out of trap and Mavs played 4-on-3: Chris Paul had to defend BOTH Exum and Jones.
As you see in the picture: JONES had open path to the basket and Hardaway would pass to him for an OPEN dunk. So it was good and only possible decision for TJD to protect the paint as quickly as possible. Dray was just a split second late to switch on Washington.

It is totally amazing that you cannot see it. I am sure I waste my time here.



Back to the question of Mood -23 and TJD -26. Mood ws cooked by Kyrie, well Kyrie is Hall of Fame offensive player. Probably if Steve Kerr could rewind it back he would start GP. TJD did not make anything wrong he was just on the floor when Kyrie was hot and when Washington went hot. Washington is great talent, probably hidden in Doncic game. Washington scored on many defenders but Steph Curry was his victim 4 times. TJD +/- suffered casue of Dray's missed layups too. That's how it goes in basketball, sometimes your +/- can be great or miserable without your impact.

[WarriorGM]

Going over the gameflow data the 2 best Warriors lineups went +12 and +9. Their commonality? They were 4 guard lineups! CP3, Podz, Klay, GP2 and Looney went +12 in the 1st quarter and Steph, CP3, Podz, Klay and Green went +9 at the end of the 4th.

Sucks that in a game that going to the midget lineups actually looked like the best move, they still ended up losing.

[svart]

That was always the more probable path after the losses you mentions.

But some people got hyped by our winning streak and now they feel more disappointed than they should be.

We need to prove we deserve to be there by winning two games in the play-in. That's how i see it. is it doable? We'll need a lot of luck and heart. We'll see.

so they need to prove it by winning 2 games in the play-in when they cannot win a RS game vs a team missing its best player?
other teams can win games without their best player, even the spurs did, but dubs cannot, rather they lose vs team missing their best player.
this is an indictment on the CS and the roster to some extend therefore to the FO too.

dude, do you realize that we also missed wiggs and kuminga, and were on a b2b?

the fck are we talking about? chill, dude.

[vvoland]

Wow, that's unbelievable that you put a blame on TJD!

What happened there: Dray spent TOO MUCH time to double on Kyrie and had a long way to go back. Kyrie passed the ball out of trap and Mavs played 4-on-3: Chris Paul had to defend BOTH Exum and Jones.
As you see in the picture: JONES had open path to the basket and Hardaway would pass to him for an OPEN dunk. So it was good and only possible decision for TJD to protect the paint as quickly as possible. Dray was just a split second late to switch on Washington.

It is totally amazing that you cannot see it. I am sure I waste my time here.



Back to the question of Mood -23 and TJD -26. Mood ws cooked by Kyrie, well Kyrie is Hall of Fame offensive player. Probably if Steve Kerr could rewind it back he would start GP. TJD did not make anything wrong he was just on the floor when Kyrie was hot and when Washington went hot. Washington is great talent, probably hidden in Doncic game. Washington scored on many defenders but Steph Curry was his victim 4 times. TJD +/- suffered casue of Dray's missed layups too. That's how it goes in basketball, sometimes your +/- can be great or miserable without your impact.

I'd agree with you on tjd on that possession if your screenshot is where he stopped. In that moment, he's in perfect position to guard the pass to either Jones or PJ. He's also in great rebounding position.

The problem is, his next step is wrong - he steps towards hardaway and loads up to jump for the block. That allows hardaway to read it and make the pass around tjd. Hardaway also could have passed it to Jones since tjd left his feet (not necessary) and so did klay (good defense), leaving no one between Jones and the basket (dray may have gotten there to challenge, not sure). Point is, tjd was in perfect position but then seemed convinced hardaway was shooting and that he could get the block. I would have preferred he let klay contest the shot and remained in the middle of the restricted area to protect against either pass and be there to rebound the miss.

Dray peels off Kyrie almost immediately after the pass but it's all the way near the logo, 40 or so feet from where PJ will be when he catches it. Dray had 1.6 seconds to make that rotation, 8.3 left when he peeled off and turned, 6.7 left when the ball is halfway to PJ. And when he starts that rotation, dray has to read tjd to know if he's rotating to PJ or Jones. He's in a really rough spot and still almost gets there by reading the ball but he's a half step late.

Not sure if you were replying to me or someone else but I'm certainly not blaming anyone on this play, mostly responding to those wrongly blaming klay for this play. These are all very difficult, split second decisions and the offense did a great job spacing and finishing. If I had to say what we could have done on that play to minimize the damage I'd go with:

1. Tjd doesn't go for the block and stays in the key OR commits earlier allowing dray to play PJ. Still a very hard rotation for dray but considering he missed the steal by like 6 inches, he probably makes it if he sees tjd go a second earlier.

2. Dray recognizes he can't tip that pass and doesn't jump for it, instead rotating to PJ and playing him on the catch. PJ probably lays it in before coming down with it, in that situation since it's a really good catch and dray's attempt to tip it is the only thing that prevents PJ from an easy catch and finish. I think the best outcome would have been dray getting called for the foul since, on the follow through, hits PJ in the chest. It would have been a bad call but probably our best bet to not be down 2.

Not a ton else we could have done on that.

[vvoland]

pummeling Klay is usually a safe bet, and I also thought it was weird that he was in on the defensive lineup, but I'm not sure what people are seeing out there

Klay played fine defense on THJ, who never even looked for his shot. He drove with the idea of waiting for someone to overcommit, and thats what TJD did, easy bucket. If THJ wanted to take a shot while he was driving parallel to the rim and down near the low block.. cool! That's a great outcome for the Warriors

Then on the inbounds, it was just the typical Steph improv to end the game, which hasnt worked at all this year. Not only that, the entire play was on one half of the halfcourt, so no possible spacing. As soon as CP3 passed the ball with about 1.2 left, it was over. Expecting Klay to catch the ball at his side, collect, square up and shoot in 0.8 seconds just isn't realistic. It was a bad idea and executed poorly

Everyone over helps when it’s Klay. Kyp

Also yes getting a wide open shot with .8 seconds left is as good of a shot you can ask for let alone for Klay. If it’s dray in that corner then yea not a good shot. But an open 3 for Klay is not a good shot? That’s wild. Really can’t even ask for a better shot.

But it was definitely a bad play call. It’s like they didn’t expect Dallas to double.

It was a great look, if only klay had time to actually look or do anything other than just toss it up there. 0.8 seconds left and the ball isn't in his hands yet, coming from the side. He needs to catch, bring it from the left side of his body to the front, and get the shot off, all from a standstill. It's an incredibly difficult shot and I don't think there's many players on the league that even get it off before the buzzer, much less get it on line but just a bit short.

But what was the play call there? Did Kerr really want to play iso or high PnR with 4 seconds left? Did he really think Dallas wouldn't double on the catch? Especially when there's 4 people on the strong side and the double carries almost no risk since the spacing is so bad.

Kerr has some absolutely fantastic ATO plays that he uses to get easy buckets all the time, including in this game. How is it that our final possessions are often, give it curry and let him improv?

[superunknown]

That was always the more probable path after the losses you mentions.

But some people got hyped by our winning streak and now they feel more disappointed than they should be.

We need to prove we deserve to be there by winning two games in the play-in. That's how i see it. is it doable? We'll need a lot of luck and heart. We'll see.

so they need to prove it by winning 2 games in the play-in when they cannot win a RS game vs a team missing its best player?
other teams can win games without their best player, even the spurs did, but dubs cannot, rather they lose vs team missing their best player.
this is an indictment on the CS and the roster to some extend therefore to the FO too.

dude, do you realize that we also missed wiggs and kuminga, and were on a b2b?

the fck are we talking about? chill, dude.

DAL was on b2b as well and without doncic (and half their frontcourt). the playfield was even.

[CDM_Stats]

I'd agree with you on tjd on that possession if your screenshot is where he stopped. In that moment, he's in perfect position to guard the pass to either Jones or PJ. He's also in great rebounding position.

I trimmed a bunch but yes to the first half. TJD took a running leap at THJ and at no point at all even threatened Jones Jr on the baseline. And to your point, if he stopped and hedged in the middle, where that screenshot was taken and like I said, then he would have been able to defend any shot by Jones Jr on the pass, and still eat up the passing lane to PJ Washington. I had a pretty good laugh at the Jones Jr part of the take.. nothing TJD does remotely helps on that baseline pass EXCEPT hedging

Dray did his job fine too, because if TJD had done the correct thing, he would have been defending.. TJD. Which pretty much ices the point of what TJD was supposed to do.. Dray wasn't going to go sprinting towards a position that was currently occupied, unless he knew that TJD was supposed to jump out at THJ. He wasn't, and that's where it broke down. I know folks dont like jumping on the youth, but thats what happened - he made a mistake. Hopefully he learns from it

[CDM_Stats]

this board is turning into a pro/klay - anti/klay war, with every party rubbing it to the other depending on the type of game he has.

and it's disgusting.

ooooh wonder which I am

[CDM_Stats]

Kerr has some absolutely fantastic ATO plays that he uses to get easy buckets all the time, including in this game. How is it that our final possessions are often, give it curry and let him improv?

They used to have a double backscreen play that worked well in these situations.. I woulda gone Curry/Klay/TJD/Dray/CP3

CP3 inbounds the ball, Dray and Curry up front, Klay/TJD in the back where Podz was hanging out and spectating. Dray sets a screen for Curry, Curry rolls toward halfcourt, Dray rolls back into the corner. Same time TJD is doing the same thing for Klay, although a bit staggered, so that presumably when Curry gets the ball he has a passing lane to Klay around the arc. Inbounds to Curry, if he's not doubled, he isos. If he is, cycle to the freshly screened Klay, who will likely have his man AND TJD's man trying to contest. If he's got daylight, shoot. If its a double as it likely is, get the ball to TJD before Dray's man figures it out, assuming he stuck with Dray and didnt just double Curry

Oh also - if the 1st screen doesnt work and Curry's not an option because of an overhelp, get it to Dray, drop it right back to CP3, and look for TJD on the same roll but from cross-court. Risky, but still better than "save us Steph"

Teams are always so desperate to put the brakes on Curry/Klay that frequently they'll ignore non-shooters... thats a pro, not a con. Shoulda used it to our advantage. Oh well

[BayAreaDub]

this board is turning into a pro/klay - anti/klay war, with every party rubbing it to the other depending on the type of game he has.

and it's disgusting.

ooooh wonder which I am

I know I’m “anti” Klay. As in anti Klay being babied and treated definitely bc “4 rings”.

He’s clearly toasted and I can’t stand Kerr treating him like he’s not.

I’m “pro” Klay getting 20 min a game and getting pulled when he’s clearly hurting the team. Don’t think Kerr has it in him though.

Also anti $20mil/yr Klay

[svart]

so they need to prove it by winning 2 games in the play-in when they cannot win a RS game vs a team missing its best player?
other teams can win games without their best player, even the spurs did, but dubs cannot, rather they lose vs team missing their best player.
this is an indictment on the CS and the roster to some extend therefore to the FO too.

dude, do you realize that we also missed wiggs and kuminga, and were on a b2b?

the fck are we talking about? chill, dude.

DAL was on b2b as well and without doncic (and half their frontcourt). the playfield was even.

Yeah, even. You just forgot to mention it earlier. Dallas is a good team, we lost to a good team. It happens.

[Onus]

pummeling Klay is usually a safe bet, and I also thought it was weird that he was in on the defensive lineup, but I'm not sure what people are seeing out there

Klay played fine defense on THJ, who never even looked for his shot. He drove with the idea of waiting for someone to overcommit, and thats what TJD did, easy bucket. If THJ wanted to take a shot while he was driving parallel to the rim and down near the low block.. cool! That's a great outcome for the Warriors

Then on the inbounds, it was just the typical Steph improv to end the game, which hasnt worked at all this year. Not only that, the entire play was on one half of the halfcourt, so no possible spacing. As soon as CP3 passed the ball with about 1.2 left, it was over. Expecting Klay to catch the ball at his side, collect, square up and shoot in 0.8 seconds just isn't realistic. It was a bad idea and executed poorly

Everyone over helps when it’s Klay. Kyp

Also yes getting a wide open shot with .8 seconds left is as good of a shot you can ask for let alone for Klay. If it’s dray in that corner then yea not a good shot. But an open 3 for Klay is not a good shot? That’s wild. Really can’t even ask for a better shot.

But it was definitely a bad play call. It’s like they didn’t expect Dallas to double.

It was a great look, if only klay had time to actually look or do anything other than just toss it up there. 0.8 seconds left and the ball isn't in his hands yet, coming from the side. He needs to catch, bring it from the left side of his body to the front, and get the shot off, all from a standstill. It's an incredibly difficult shot and I don't think there's many players on the league that even get it off before the buzzer, much less get it on line but just a bit short.

But what was the play call there? Did Kerr really want to play iso or high PnR with 4 seconds left? Did he really think Dallas wouldn't double on the catch? Especially when there's 4 people on the strong side and the double carries almost no risk since the spacing is so bad.

Kerr has some absolutely fantastic ATO plays that he uses to get easy buckets all the time, including in this game. How is it that our final possessions are often, give it curry and let him improv?

I’m not even mad that he missed that shot. Nor is it his fault. But nba players practice no dip catch and shoot shots all the time. For normal people who don’t practice everyday yea tough shot. For pros it’s a good look especially for a game winner. I’m not mad with that shot. I’ll take that shot over a curry double team fading chuck all day.

Hell the shot we got was probably a better shot than the one Chet hit over Wiggins to go to over time. Klay just missed his tough shot whatever. At least we got a lightly contested shot up. With the way the play unfolded it seemed like we may not have gotten a clean shot up at all.

[Sleepy51]

I'm never mad at anyone for missing a game winner, especially on a good look.

I'm Mad at Klay for about half of the other 9 shots he missed. He takes bad shots now, and yes, they are now bad shots for who 2024 Klay has become.

[jozef]

Wow, that's unbelievable that you put a blame on TJD!

What happened there: Dray spent TOO MUCH time to double on Kyrie and had a long way to go back. Kyrie passed the ball out of trap and Mavs played 4-on-3: Chris Paul had to defend BOTH Exum and Jones.
As you see in the picture: JONES had open path to the basket and Hardaway would pass to him for an OPEN dunk. So it was good and only possible decision for TJD to protect the paint as quickly as possible. Dray was just a split second late to switch on Washington.

It is totally amazing that you cannot see it. I am sure I waste my time here.



Back to the question of Mood -23 and TJD -26. Mood ws cooked by Kyrie, well Kyrie is Hall of Fame offensive player. Probably if Steve Kerr could rewind it back he would start GP. TJD did not make anything wrong he was just on the floor when Kyrie was hot and when Washington went hot. Washington is great talent, probably hidden in Doncic game. Washington scored on many defenders but Steph Curry was his victim 4 times. TJD +/- suffered casue of Dray's missed layups too. That's how it goes in basketball, sometimes your +/- can be great or miserable without your impact.

I'd agree with you on tjd on that possession if your screenshot is where he stopped. In that moment, he's in perfect position to guard the pass to either Jones or PJ. He's also in great rebounding position.

The problem is, his next step is wrong - he steps towards hardaway and loads up to jump for the block. That allows hardaway to read it and make the pass around tjd. Hardaway also could have passed it to Jones since tjd left his feet (not necessary) and so did klay (good defense), leaving no one between Jones and the basket (dray may have gotten there to challenge, not sure). Point is, tjd was in perfect position but then seemed convinced hardaway was shooting and that he could get the block. I would have preferred he let klay contest the shot and remained in the middle of the restricted area to protect against either pass and be there to rebound the miss.

Dray peels off Kyrie almost immediately after the pass but it's all the way near the logo, 40 or so feet from where PJ will be when he catches it. Dray had 1.6 seconds to make that rotation, 8.3 left when he peeled off and turned, 6.7 left when the ball is halfway to PJ. And when he starts that rotation, dray has to read tjd to know if he's rotating to PJ or Jones. He's in a really rough spot and still almost gets there by reading the ball but he's a half step late.

Not sure if you were replying to me or someone else but I'm certainly not blaming anyone on this play, mostly responding to those wrongly blaming klay for this play. These are all very difficult, split second decisions and the offense did a great job spacing and finishing. If I had to say what we could have done on that play to minimize the damage I'd go with:

1. Tjd doesn't go for the block and stays in the key OR commits earlier allowing dray to play PJ. Still a very hard rotation for dray but considering he missed the steal by like 6 inches, he probably makes it if he sees tjd go a second earlier.

2. Dray recognizes he can't tip that pass and doesn't jump for it, instead rotating to PJ and playing him on the catch. PJ probably lays it in before coming down with it, in that situation since it's a really good catch and dray's attempt to tip it is the only thing that prevents PJ from an easy catch and finish. I think the best outcome would have been dray getting called for the foul since, on the follow through, hits PJ in the chest. It would have been a bad call but probably our best bet to not be down 2.

Not a ton else we could have done on that.

TJD did not go for a block! He ran there to help Klay AND cover open Derrick Jones Jr., a Slam-Dunk champion.https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=703&GameID=0022301097&Season=2023-24&flag=1&title=Washington%203%27%20Cutting%20Layup%20Shot%20(32%20PTS)%20(Hardaway%20Jr.%203%20AST)
As you see in video: TJD did leap to catch Hardaway's lob pass.
All blame goes to veteran Dray who followed Kyrie to the midcourt. Young TJD did perfect job.

[Onus]

Wow, that's unbelievable that you put a blame on TJD!

What happened there: Dray spent TOO MUCH time to double on Kyrie and had a long way to go back. Kyrie passed the ball out of trap and Mavs played 4-on-3: Chris Paul had to defend BOTH Exum and Jones.
As you see in the picture: JONES had open path to the basket and Hardaway would pass to him for an OPEN dunk. So it was good and only possible decision for TJD to protect the paint as quickly as possible. Dray was just a split second late to switch on Washington.

It is totally amazing that you cannot see it. I am sure I waste my time here.



Back to the question of Mood -23 and TJD -26. Mood ws cooked by Kyrie, well Kyrie is Hall of Fame offensive player. Probably if Steve Kerr could rewind it back he would start GP. TJD did not make anything wrong he was just on the floor when Kyrie was hot and when Washington went hot. Washington is great talent, probably hidden in Doncic game. Washington scored on many defenders but Steph Curry was his victim 4 times. TJD +/- suffered casue of Dray's missed layups too. That's how it goes in basketball, sometimes your +/- can be great or miserable without your impact.

I'd agree with you on tjd on that possession if your screenshot is where he stopped. In that moment, he's in perfect position to guard the pass to either Jones or PJ. He's also in great rebounding position.

The problem is, his next step is wrong - he steps towards hardaway and loads up to jump for the block. That allows hardaway to read it and make the pass around tjd. Hardaway also could have passed it to Jones since tjd left his feet (not necessary) and so did klay (good defense), leaving no one between Jones and the basket (dray may have gotten there to challenge, not sure). Point is, tjd was in perfect position but then seemed convinced hardaway was shooting and that he could get the block. I would have preferred he let klay contest the shot and remained in the middle of the restricted area to protect against either pass and be there to rebound the miss.

Dray peels off Kyrie almost immediately after the pass but it's all the way near the logo, 40 or so feet from where PJ will be when he catches it. Dray had 1.6 seconds to make that rotation, 8.3 left when he peeled off and turned, 6.7 left when the ball is halfway to PJ. And when he starts that rotation, dray has to read tjd to know if he's rotating to PJ or Jones. He's in a really rough spot and still almost gets there by reading the ball but he's a half step late.

Not sure if you were replying to me or someone else but I'm certainly not blaming anyone on this play, mostly responding to those wrongly blaming klay for this play. These are all very difficult, split second decisions and the offense did a great job spacing and finishing. If I had to say what we could have done on that play to minimize the damage I'd go with:

1. Tjd doesn't go for the block and stays in the key OR commits earlier allowing dray to play PJ. Still a very hard rotation for dray but considering he missed the steal by like 6 inches, he probably makes it if he sees tjd go a second earlier.

2. Dray recognizes he can't tip that pass and doesn't jump for it, instead rotating to PJ and playing him on the catch. PJ probably lays it in before coming down with it, in that situation since it's a really good catch and dray's attempt to tip it is the only thing that prevents PJ from an easy catch and finish. I think the best outcome would have been dray getting called for the foul since, on the follow through, hits PJ in the chest. It would have been a bad call but probably our best bet to not be down 2.

Not a ton else we could have done on that.

TJD did not go for a block! He ran there to help Klay AND cover open Derrick Jones Jr., a Slam-Dunk champion.https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=703&GameID=0022301097&Season=2023-24&flag=1&title=Washington%203%27%20Cutting%20Layup%20Shot%20(32%20PTS)%20(Hardaway%20Jr.%203%20AST)
As you see in video: TJD did leap to catch Hardaway's lob pass.
All blame goes to veteran Dray who followed Kyrie to the midcourt. Young TJD did perfect job.

Dray slowed down while rotating down to pj. If he continues at his previous speed he probably breaks up the pass.

[jozef]

Yes, Dray could read it better. But what is obvious:
- TJD did not hunt for a block, a youngster did great job.
- Dray did hunt for a steal, a veteran took unnecessary risk

[vvoland]

Wow, that's unbelievable that you put a blame on TJD!

What happened there: Dray spent TOO MUCH time to double on Kyrie and had a long way to go back. Kyrie passed the ball out of trap and Mavs played 4-on-3: Chris Paul had to defend BOTH Exum and Jones.
As you see in the picture: JONES had open path to the basket and Hardaway would pass to him for an OPEN dunk. So it was good and only possible decision for TJD to protect the paint as quickly as possible. Dray was just a split second late to switch on Washington.

It is totally amazing that you cannot see it. I am sure I waste my time here.



Back to the question of Mood -23 and TJD -26. Mood ws cooked by Kyrie, well Kyrie is Hall of Fame offensive player. Probably if Steve Kerr could rewind it back he would start GP. TJD did not make anything wrong he was just on the floor when Kyrie was hot and when Washington went hot. Washington is great talent, probably hidden in Doncic game. Washington scored on many defenders but Steph Curry was his victim 4 times. TJD +/- suffered casue of Dray's missed layups too. That's how it goes in basketball, sometimes your +/- can be great or miserable without your impact.

I'd agree with you on tjd on that possession if your screenshot is where he stopped. In that moment, he's in perfect position to guard the pass to either Jones or PJ. He's also in great rebounding position.

The problem is, his next step is wrong - he steps towards hardaway and loads up to jump for the block. That allows hardaway to read it and make the pass around tjd. Hardaway also could have passed it to Jones since tjd left his feet (not necessary) and so did klay (good defense), leaving no one between Jones and the basket (dray may have gotten there to challenge, not sure). Point is, tjd was in perfect position but then seemed convinced hardaway was shooting and that he could get the block. I would have preferred he let klay contest the shot and remained in the middle of the restricted area to protect against either pass and be there to rebound the miss.

Dray peels off Kyrie almost immediately after the pass but it's all the way near the logo, 40 or so feet from where PJ will be when he catches it. Dray had 1.6 seconds to make that rotation, 8.3 left when he peeled off and turned, 6.7 left when the ball is halfway to PJ. And when he starts that rotation, dray has to read tjd to know if he's rotating to PJ or Jones. He's in a really rough spot and still almost gets there by reading the ball but he's a half step late.

Not sure if you were replying to me or someone else but I'm certainly not blaming anyone on this play, mostly responding to those wrongly blaming klay for this play. These are all very difficult, split second decisions and the offense did a great job spacing and finishing. If I had to say what we could have done on that play to minimize the damage I'd go with:

1. Tjd doesn't go for the block and stays in the key OR commits earlier allowing dray to play PJ. Still a very hard rotation for dray but considering he missed the steal by like 6 inches, he probably makes it if he sees tjd go a second earlier.

2. Dray recognizes he can't tip that pass and doesn't jump for it, instead rotating to PJ and playing him on the catch. PJ probably lays it in before coming down with it, in that situation since it's a really good catch and dray's attempt to tip it is the only thing that prevents PJ from an easy catch and finish. I think the best outcome would have been dray getting called for the foul since, on the follow through, hits PJ in the chest. It would have been a bad call but probably our best bet to not be down 2.

Not a ton else we could have done on that.

TJD did not go for a block! He ran there to help Klay AND cover open Derrick Jones Jr., a Slam-Dunk champion.https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=703&GameID=0022301097&Season=2023-24&flag=1&title=Washington%203%27%20Cutting%20Layup%20Shot%20(32%20PTS)%20(Hardaway%20Jr.%203%20AST)
As you see in video: TJD did leap to catch Hardaway's lob pass.
All blame goes to veteran Dray who followed Kyrie to the midcourt. Young TJD did perfect job.

Even in the screenshot you posted you can that tjd is focused completely on hardaway. He's about to take a load up step before going into his two-foot vertical contest. He's made that decision while hardaway isn't even in the gather. To say he jumped to block the pass would mean that tjd waited until hardaway was in the air AND released the ball to PJ and only then jumped to try and tip it.

If you were to stop the film while hardaway is in the air but still had the ball (meaning still had the option to pass to Jones, PJ or shoot it) you'll see tjd already in the air. Great body control allowed him to adjust and challenge for the pass but to say he jumped to get the pass would be giving him a lot of credit of knowing exactly what hardaway was about to do. His mistake would be obvious if hardaway dropped it off to Jones. Tjd has a quick second jump so he may have recovered but the fact that he was over eager to fly out on hardaway would be more apparent.

You really can't blame dray for taking Kyrie out to the logo, the defense clearly called for an immediate double to force him to give it up. Blame Kerr, if you disagree with that strategy but dray executed it perfectly. Hardaway going 4 v 3 with dray recovering is usually a gamble the dubs would win but jr. did a great job of getting PJ the ball.

[vvoland]

I'd agree with you on tjd on that possession if your screenshot is where he stopped. In that moment, he's in perfect position to guard the pass to either Jones or PJ. He's also in great rebounding position.

The problem is, his next step is wrong - he steps towards hardaway and loads up to jump for the block. That allows hardaway to read it and make the pass around tjd. Hardaway also could have passed it to Jones since tjd left his feet (not necessary) and so did klay (good defense), leaving no one between Jones and the basket (dray may have gotten there to challenge, not sure). Point is, tjd was in perfect position but then seemed convinced hardaway was shooting and that he could get the block. I would have preferred he let klay contest the shot and remained in the middle of the restricted area to protect against either pass and be there to rebound the miss.

Dray peels off Kyrie almost immediately after the pass but it's all the way near the logo, 40 or so feet from where PJ will be when he catches it. Dray had 1.6 seconds to make that rotation, 8.3 left when he peeled off and turned, 6.7 left when the ball is halfway to PJ. And when he starts that rotation, dray has to read tjd to know if he's rotating to PJ or Jones. He's in a really rough spot and still almost gets there by reading the ball but he's a half step late.

Not sure if you were replying to me or someone else but I'm certainly not blaming anyone on this play, mostly responding to those wrongly blaming klay for this play. These are all very difficult, split second decisions and the offense did a great job spacing and finishing. If I had to say what we could have done on that play to minimize the damage I'd go with:

1. Tjd doesn't go for the block and stays in the key OR commits earlier allowing dray to play PJ. Still a very hard rotation for dray but considering he missed the steal by like 6 inches, he probably makes it if he sees tjd go a second earlier.

2. Dray recognizes he can't tip that pass and doesn't jump for it, instead rotating to PJ and playing him on the catch. PJ probably lays it in before coming down with it, in that situation since it's a really good catch and dray's attempt to tip it is the only thing that prevents PJ from an easy catch and finish. I think the best outcome would have been dray getting called for the foul since, on the follow through, hits PJ in the chest. It would have been a bad call but probably our best bet to not be down 2.

Not a ton else we could have done on that.

TJD did not go for a block! He ran there to help Klay AND cover open Derrick Jones Jr., a Slam-Dunk champion.https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&CFPARAMS=&GameEventID=703&GameID=0022301097&Season=2023-24&flag=1&title=Washington%203%27%20Cutting%20Layup%20Shot%20(32%20PTS)%20(Hardaway%20Jr.%203%20AST)
As you see in video: TJD did leap to catch Hardaway's lob pass.
All blame goes to veteran Dray who followed Kyrie to the midcourt. Young TJD did perfect job.

Dray slowed down while rotating down to pj. If he continues at his previous speed he probably breaks up the pass.

He slowed down because Jones and PJ were both options for the pass and where dray needed to rotate would depend on who tjd took. When tjd jumped at hardaway, dray had to wait for the pass to be released before knowing where his rotation would end.

[jozef]

I cannot believe it - you have a video evidence...
Stop it at 6.8 seconds to go: Hardaway is in the air, the ball is out of his hands and TJD is still on the floor. TJD did not know Hardaway's decision (Timmy himself made it in split of second), TJD just reacted to his lob pass, it could be an alley oop finish.

Dray had no chance to rotate to Jones who was further than Washington who was the only one he could get soon enough.

There was GP on Kyrie and there was absolutely no need to double him. We allow open shot instead of contested shot and I really doubt that Steve instructed him that way.