WCF Game 1: GSW vs DAL

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

General board whiners have gone nuts.
Did you know that the refs are favoring the Warriors and it isn’t fair and that Wiggins should be suspended for scratching Doncic?

You would think the Warriors were the Bad Boy Pistons.

[GunnerWRX]

General board whiners have gone nuts.
Did you know that the refs are favoring the Warriors and it isn’t fair and that Wiggins should be suspended for scratching Doncic?

You would think the Warriors were the Bad Boy Pistons.

Mommy this guy touched me with his finger tips!

[Crazy-Canuck]

Rewatching some of that defense on doncic:

Wiggs hounding him full court, we bet that doncic would tire out faster than wiggs.
Wiggs will get alot of credit, but loon and dray were outstanding. Mavs tried to get wiggs off luka, but when they did 2 things happened.
A) dray, loon, and wiggs were on a string and smoothly switched. And when doncic did get into the paint, he saw bodies.
B) when they tried steph, he and wiggs would switch back immediately with wiggs navigating the screen.

Jazz and suns also have great wingstoppers, but what i think that stood out is that they couldnt punish doncic defensively. They would need a cross switch which takes planning and becomes a little more predicatable because it allows the mavs to also game it.. Wiggs went right at him.There was no chance of a switch, no help. It was doncic on his own having to exert energy. Doncic had to work on both ends of the court for 3 quarters and you saw it wear him down physically and mentally in the 4th.

Suns and jazz couldnt stop luka because they didnt have the personnel. Dubs just might have found that secret sauce.

Dray called wiggins a "fence bender". I think that description of wiggs was bang on this game.

[FNQ]

General board whiners have gone nuts.
Did you know that the refs are favoring the Warriors and it isn’t fair and that Wiggins should be suspended for scratching Doncic?

You would think the Warriors were the Bad Boy Pistons.

Mommy this guy touched me with his finger tips!

lol

a lot of them are trolling for the laughs, I think the Wiggins suspension thread is hilarious.. Pharmcat's way of doing it is pretty brilliant too (make an incendiary topic, and let some idiot actually do the defending it for you)

No different from our GTs really. I mean, from before. Those types can't find any material to use these days

[HiRez]

Good win except for the ending. I know it was garbage time, but those guys played like knuckleheads, would rather see them trying to play it straight up. They made an impression, but a bad one, don't think Kerr didn't notice.

[azwfan]

His scoring efficiency wasnt good. His floor game is fine. Great for an 18 year old even. Don't Poole the guy because he had a questionable jumper

And his combine, like I said, is irrelevant. When he's on the floor he's smooth for his size. He shouldn't be available at 28, and if he is, has to be considered. Guys who can score at all 3 levels and have the ability to absorb contact - at 18 - are rare. The fact that he can play defense doesn't even have to come into the equation at 28, but he's got that too.

And now that I see Moore is a Junior (I thought he was a freshman)... that's the guy you pick between the two? Thats a really low ceiling kinda player.. especially when a guy like him was ceding the tough shots to the freshmen, if not Paolo then Keels. I'm not into drafting low ceiling wing role players in the draft. Need a much higher ceiling. If we're going with jack-of-all-trades type wings with not much upside, why not just draft Christian Braun? He's better than Moore if we're looking for the right-now guy, and he's had to do it as the top 2 scorer of his team, not 3rd-4th option

I really wouldn’t want to draft either but at least with Moore he’s got a role. Good defender and can pass. Shooting is a question mark but not as big as keels. Keels is a big question mark that you hope you can develop to be a role player. Can’t shoot, can’t finish. Is small not athletic, he was worse than drew timme, that’s bad.

There should be much better options at 28, jalen Williams, jake laravia, ej Liddell.

Probably not interested him over what will be there, but he can’t finish? That’s what he’s best at.. and he is very athletic, you mean he’s not especially fast at the combine, which means nothing at the NBA level. He plays the game fast, and his strength is unquestionable. Athleticism means nothing if you can’t use it in the game. Combine is really only useful for measurements, not drills anyways

Moore’s 2nd season was comparable to Keels’ first, and he’s always had a lesser role.. Keels could step into the NBA tomorrow and be a Josh Hart type that can score enough and capably defend 1-3, with lots of upside remaining.

Moore drastically improved and was significantly better than Keels. Could Keels improve? Sure could. I just hate that ft% and its tough for me to draft him over Moore seeing the disparity. I love Keels toughness and physicality. He’s a bully out there. Just want my guards shooting better from the line, significantly better. Prefer someone shooting in the 80’s from the line. Moore has done that all 3 yrs and improved that 3pt%. Add to his defense and toughness and I give him the edge over Keels. I would happily take Keels in the 2nd rd if we take a big with our 1st rd pick though as a development guy.

Additionally, Moore will be 20 on draft day, 21 on first game of the season. Keels 18 on draft day, 19 first game of the season.

They both seem to be competitors and tough hardnosed types. Both good passers. Like that from both. Also recall Keels performing well in the nat title game. Dont recall Moore’s performance, but Moore was better all year long.

I guess the buy in on Keels will come with intel on his work ethic. If hes a jordan poole worker, that may be worth betting on given the 2yr age difference. But off of the info I have, ill give moore the edge.

[FNQ]

Good win except for the ending. I know it was garbage time, but those guys played like knuckleheads, would rather see them trying to play it straight up. They made an impression, but a bad one, don't think Kerr didn't notice.

I think 4 of the 5 garbo time players played exactly as they should. Kuminga could have done more to share the ball, but we didnt draft him for that. He needs to get comfortable scoring a lot of ways, because that's how you're going to recoup value on him.

Nemo made SURE to distribute to the kids, Lee basically camped in the corner, Kuminga flashed for the ball, Moody tried to get opent through frequent movement (and was playing defense well too, for whatever its worth in garbage time).. they all seem to understand their role and were all invested in seeing our young players grow, and not getting in the way of that

Except for one. The same one who did it last time and had a **** attitude about it then, too

[GunnerWRX]

Good win except for the ending. I know it was garbage time, but those guys played like knuckleheads, would rather see them trying to play it straight up. They made an impression, but a bad one, don't think Kerr didn't notice.

Look at the bright side - at least Kerr won’t have an itch to start Kuminga instead of Looney for some funny reasons he came up with while taking a dump.

I love Kuminga, but at this juncture his role is not in the starting lineup. I’m totally fine if Kerr plays him 5 min mid game and see if he can make a couple of energy plays like McGee did.

He did look bad during garbage time though. But the team didn’t run anything effectively and it’s hard to ask him, cold off the bench, to just go at a blown out team’s scrubs who are angry/desperate/aggressive at that time, just to prove a point.

[Coxy]

Kuminga was just wanting to score and get into the action, so if Kerr was happy to just let him run with that, I have no issues with it. It would have been nice to see some sets, but I think Kerr saw an opportunity for his young guys to just go out there and have some fun, because they may not get another chance for the rest of the year now.

[Impuniti]

Rewatching some of that defense on doncic:

Wiggs hounding him full court, we bet that doncic would tire out faster than wiggs.
Wiggs will get alot of credit, but loon and dray were outstanding. Mavs tried to get wiggs off luka, but when they did 2 things happened.
A) dray, loon, and wiggs were on a string and smoothly switched. And when doncic did get into the paint, he saw bodies.
B) when they tried steph, he and wiggs would switch back immediately with wiggs navigating the screen.

Jazz and suns also have great wingstoppers, but what i think that stood out is that they couldnt punish doncic defensively. They would need a cross switch which takes planning and becomes a little more predicatable because it allows the mavs to also game it.. Wiggs went right at him.There was no chance of a switch, no help. It was doncic on his own having to exert energy. Doncic had to work on both ends of the court for 3 quarters and you saw it wear him down physically and mentally in the 4th.

Suns and jazz couldnt stop luka because they didnt have the personnel. Dubs just might have found that secret sauce.

Dray called wiggins a "fence bender". I think that description of wiggs was bang on this game.

Draymond had his worst series of his postseason career vs Memphis, but I fully expect him to completely dominate the Mavs the way they play this time around.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Watch on YouTube

Steve kerr needs more credit. Brilliant defensive game plan.
Steph just might be the second best 2 way player on the dubs, no joke. His defense is underrated.
I talk about the synergy of wiggs and dray, but loon is right there with them. And steph isnt far behind either.
Klay and poole are.......interesting?

[Outside]

Wiggins having this much fun brings joy to my heart.

[WESCO]

Funniest thing on the GB.

1. Wiggins taking some Luka magic (the face scratch)

2. Kerr wearing a mask

[FNQ]

Results on Luka Doncic:
boring stuff:

Spoiler:

(note: these results were done by going over game film and used categories/process established in 2016)

So a quick legend:
QAO: Quality Assist Opportunity - whether or not the player's actions created an immediate or eventual assist opportunity, defined as a quality shot (3 ft+ open jumper; a layup or dunk; or any otherwise quality shot). Every actual assist is, by default, a QAO.
KO: Kick out - a pass that did not result in a QAO but effectively reset the offense; typically an attempt at driving that provides no results
CP: Cycle pass - a pass that did not result in a QAO; any pass that keeps the offense moving
Opps: Opportunities - when a defensive player is the primary defender on a certain offensive player. Can be multiple opportunities per touch due to screens, switches, etc

Last night Luka had 64 non-inbounds touches; and from those 64 touches, there were a total of 82 opportunities spread out between 6 Warriors players.

Wiggins: 48/82 (58.5%)
Looney: 14/82 (17.1 %)
Curry: 8/82 (9.8%)
Klay: 7/82 (8.5%)
Draymond: 4/82 (4.9%)
OPJ: 1/82 (1.2%)

Wiggins:
Opps: 48
Screens: 27
2FG: 1/3
3FG: 3/6
FT: 1/1
Total Pts: 12
Total Ast: 1
TOs forced: 4
QAO: 4
KO: 4
CP: 4

Looney:
Opps: 14
Screens: 0
2FG: 1/2
3FG: 0/2
FT: 3/4
Total Pts: 5
Total Ast: 2
TOs forced: 1
QAO: 5
KO: 0
CP: 1

Curry
Opps: 8
Screens: 0
2FG: 1/1
3FG: 0/0
FT: 0/0
Total Pts: 2
Total Ast: 1
TOs forced: 0
QAO: 3
KO: 2
CP: 2

Klay:
Opps: 7
Screens: 2
2FG: 0/2
3FG: 0/0
FT: 0/0
Total Pts: 0
Total Ast: 0
TOs forced: 1
QAO: 0
KO: 1
CP: 1

Draymond:
Opps: 4
Screens: 1
2FG: 0/0
3FG: 0/2
FT: 1/2
Total Pts: 1
Total Ast: 0
TOs forced: 0
QAO: 0
KO: 0
CP: 0


OPJ:
Opps: 1
Screens: 0
2FG: 0/0
3FG: 0/0
FT: 0/1
Total Pts: 0
Total Ast: 0
TOs forced: 1
QAO: 0
KO: 0
CP: 0

Composite Warriors defense:
Opps: 82
Screens: 30
2FG: 3/8
3FG: 3/10
FT: 5/8
Total Pts: 20
Total Ast: 4
TOs forced: 7
QAO: 12
KO: 7
CP: 13

And while adding context would take too long, I'd note that OPJ only has a 0/1 FT on there due to the Jordan Poole technical foul that happened as a result of OPJ's play

But basically there are a few takeaways:

- Mavs sent 27 screens at Wiggins, most of them with the intent of switching Looney onto Luka. A couple times onto Klay, once on Curry, once even on Dray
- Looney held Luka down well points-wise, but allowed a lot of QAO per opps (5 of 14). They will continue to attack there
- statistically, Klay had the best night on Luka, allowing no points, no QAO, and 2 turnovers in his 7 opps
- statistically, Looney had the worst night on Luka, allowing 5 pts and 5 QAO in his 14 opps
- Wiggins' FGA% is worse, as the primary defender on 27 screens, because if a screen is successful and creates some space for Luka, and Luka scores or passes well off of it, its attributed to him
- Warriors contested 9 of Luka's 10 3pt attempts inside 2 ft. He was 2/9 on those shots, and 1/1 on shots with a late contest (Wiggins)

[wco81]

On to the next. Mavs were repeatedly blown out and they bounced back and blew out the Suns.

So complacency can't set in.

They were going hard in the first quarter. The way they were trying to push the pace, I wondered if some players could get gassed in the second half but they had a big push in the third quarter.

One of the games the Mavs beat the Warriors, I think they came back from a double digit lead in the second half or even in the fourth quarter. Dinwiddie kept hunting Loony or Belly.

[Scotty2Hotty]

lol, say what you want about chuck, but he's right - he always sticks around for all of the smoke. he ain't afraid even when he's dead wrong.

What's this relating to?

He was being his typical Warrior hater self at half. After the game, the crowd outside started chanting "Chuck sucks" or something like that, and he turned around and (jokingly!) fired back that they suck too. Anyway, point being that he doesn't run and hide when his predictions go bad, he smiles and leans in and has fun. I appreciate that about him.

Being a huge Auburn and Warriors fan, that was a bittersweet moment for me. I watched Chuck play at Auburn in the early 80s. I grew up on the court trying to copy his play. Watching he and Warriors fans go at it was both a gut-punch and hilarious for me.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Moderators gave me a flagrant 1 foul for taunting the whiners on the general board. One more flagrant 1 and I get ejected.

[Impuniti]

Thanks for the paper work up above @FNQ