Since Kawhi's being mentioned, I figured I'd do some film analysis for him.
2017 Kawhi Film Analysis: Spurs vs Warriors, 1st half Game 1*Apologies for the terrible quality video. It's the best I could find
The Summary can be found at the bottom
__________
10:15 offense
hard to see, but draws the defense, does a basic kickout pass to 3 point shooter
10:45 offense
off-ball movement. nothing crazy, doesn’t contribute much though
11:15 offense
Cuts after teammate passes, makes midrange pull-up
2 possessions (defense, offense) not much)
13:18 defense
Switches from KD to Curry to Thompson. Curry gets open, Kawhi makes an okay closeout, then Curry makes it. I wonder if he could have reacted quicker with better floor mapping, rather than starting to run after the ball was already in the air. Still, zoning up Curry/Klay off ball is a hard matchup for anyone
13:56 o
Good off-ball movement, but poor passing leads to turnover
18:15 o
Past 2/3 possessions he’s just been resting on offense. He does provide spacing value though
18:20 d
Gets closer to lane to possibly provide help rim defense, but that gets him out of position to guard KD. As he’s recovering, KD gets right by him for the made shot
18:28 o
Kawhi pick and roll. It’s awkward and ineffective, both from the screener and from Kawhi’s dribbling (which isn’t close enough to the screener to gain separation from the defender). They try it 3 times, don’t get anything, Kawhi is doubled, okay pass to the midrange shot. It counts but this dribbling / passing limitation shows the concerns with Kawhi as an offensive creator
19:47 d
Kawhi rebound, not contested but he was in the right position
19:54 o
The screen is better this tkme, and Kawhi thinks about taking the shot, but the slightly slower decision making / shooting form / prevents him from getting the open look. It’s a nitpick, but the better offensive player might have taken it. He passes out, good off ball cut timing.
20:15 o
I’d like him cutting faster or committing to the 3 point line earlier in this fast break. The slower movement / decision doesn’t help Aldridge who ends up committing an offensive foul
20:48 d
I like how he helps on the KD mismatch. But he misses the fact that Curry relocated behind him, and is a bit slow in starting to recover. Still, he shows good quickness once he notices Curry has moved. Only Durant’s bad pass prevents the Curry open 3, and Kawhi ends up fouling and sending Curry to the line
22:35 o
Here’s another possession showing Kawhi’s tendencies when his motor is limited. On offense, he tends to sit in the corner (or at the top). He provides good spacing, but when tired he doesn’t move off ball as much
22:57 d
Goes for the gamble steal. He doesn’t get it, but he’s gambling on a weak passer (Klay) whose poor passing prevents the layup.
23:10 o
Another possession just spacing the floor
24:30 o
More active off ball. starts in corner, off-ball cut, post up, attempted alleyoop but Kawhi can’t catch it
26:24 o
Kawhi off ball, then iso against iguodala. It’s fast, but he almost loses the dribble. Good pass for the shot
… (kawhi subs out, stream disappears for a bit). Notably the Spurs expand their lead by quite a bit with Kawhi out. They go on ~ 14-2 run, mostly without Kawhi.
40:12 o/d
He’s back in. Another offensive and defensive possession without doing much
40:45 o
Pick and roll, this one’s much better. Uses screen, drives , and dunks
41:00 d
Gets matched up with David west. Unexpected, but he shows good versatility.
Warriors now 4/8 from the line, including a miss by Curry, KD, Klay.
42:15 o
Another pick and roll. A combination of better screen and Kawhi being quicker leads to a pull-up midrange, which misses
42:24 d
Great gamble to double right before the pass, and gets the steal.
42:32 o
Passes out of the drive, and they get a good shot but it misses. After streaks of being lazier in the 1st quarter, this is now 3 offensive possessions in a row where Kawhi’s active
43:30 d
Accidentally fouls green (and an offensive spacing possession)
44:01 o
Tries an off-ball screen. It isn’t set perfectly , manu doesn’t use it… it ends up being a distraction more than anything. Kawhi goes to the perimeter, receives the pass, then drives. I like this Kawhi more than the one just providing spacing
47:40 d
Boxes out Draymond
47:43 o
They double Kawhi. He misses the pass to manu, pauses, ends up passing out to the perimeter which forces the reset. This possession and the next end up being largely created by Manu
49:45 o
Kawhi pick and roll — they’re really increasing this Pick and Roll rate and going away from the ball-movement-centric style of the first quarter. Kawhi gets free throws on the pull-up
51:20 d
Kawhi man iso defense, and the defender just passes to KD iso. Perhaps a case of Kawhi’s defensive (man) intimidation? He makes the pass slightly harder, doubles KD, but neither account for much.
51:42 o
Starts out without ball movement, just spacing. Backs up, then drives. Draws the defense, but instead of passing he chooses to iso shoot and miss.
They get the rebound, Kawhi isos, drives, and draws the foul. It’s still good offense, but you can also clearly see how the small limitations in motor/passing limit his creation and bog down the more motion-based Spurs system. At the same time, you see why Kawhi is such a historic scorer with his threat to drive, pull-up in the midrange, or shoot the three.
53:54 o
Hard to see, but Kawhi’s in good position for the offensive rebound
54:10 d
He started the game matching up with KD, then had a phase on Klay, now has had 2 possessions on Curry. Good defensive versatility. I’m not sure I like the switch at 54:15… it could have been communicated sooner by Kawhi, because a simple pass from KD (that KD misses) would be an open Curry 3. But good double on Durant, then good versatility to switch onto Zaza. He tries to save the mistake by the other Spur defender but he’s a hair behind Curry and Curry makes it.
54:35 o
This possession is less 2017 kawhi and more 2014 Kawhi. It’s the first Kawhi iso at the top in a while that also has off-ball movement, with Kawhi surveying. From this vantage point, Kawhi’s worse vision/processing isn’t as much of a limit, and kawhi can make the pass
54:50 D
Good double in transition on KD. Ideally the two of them wouldn’t foul but
59:30 o
Another Kawhi end-of-shotclock iso. Not a fan with this pull-up (foot on the line), but it’s good defense by KD who blocks it. But great recover from kawhi to tap it out to the shooter
1:00:45 O
I’d love for Kawhi to be a bit more active getting open. His slow walking hurts, but it’s mostly good defense by Curry to steal.
… With 5 minutes left in the 2nd, it’s the Warriors’ first made 3. I do think the Warriors’ cold shooting on the Warriors partially contributed to the Spurs lead, which is pretty important to Kawhi’s “narrative” argument (that he crushed the Warriors in his whopping 24-minute stretch)
1:04:14 O
What a fun possession! Popovich’s timeouts clearly having an impact
Kawhi starts as a spacer in the corner, now much more active off-ball after the time out. Kawhi iso drive, draws the defense… and again doesn’t pass out! Instead he goes for the hook shot which gets some separation, but is a less comfortable shot for him and it misses…. but he gets the rebound! Willing pass, another offensive rebound!
Then he’s off-ball for the catch and shoot 3… which misses.
Then he gets the ball again, and finally it’s a great pass. Layup pass, possibly the first of the game for Kawhi? Pop
1:05:00 O
Help defense may have contributed to the miss? Then defense on Durant may have contributed to the miss? Then good rebound to start the fast break
1:06:00 O
Weird time to show a replay, but great kawhi iso midrange over Draymond. Shows off his resilient scoring
… stream gets worse…
1:08:25 o
Pick and roll, finally Kawhi’s a passer which leads to an open shot. More great rebounding by him too
1:14:05 O
Kawhi iso, drive, collapses the defense. Again, he seems to be a more willing passer after the bench (small sample size or perhaps Popovich’s influence?). They make the 3.
__________
Film Notes:Context: this is one of Kawhi's best halves in any his peak playoffs, so it's very likely to overrate him. In this half, he over-performs vs his 2017 Playoff average and his 2019 playoff average in scoring volume, scoring efficiency, rebounding (specifically offensive rebounding), turnovers, and overall plus/minus. His offensive rating this game was 161... which is just crazy!
It's a great half, and it's great given the competition, but far from sustainable.
Injury comment: Some have said that the 17 Zaza injury shouldn't be blamed on Kawhi, which is probably true. Others have countered that Kawhi has a history of playoff injuries, which is also true. One thing I haven't seen yet is the fact that Kawhi had already missed a playoff game in 2017 before the Zaza incident (which the Spurs won!). Even if you don't discount Kawhi for the Zaza incident, you may unfortunately still have to discount him for his other playoff game missed.
Scoring: His 3-level scoring repertoire is visible. He drives a lot, and draws a number of free throws. He has a midrange pull-up, which is fairly resilient. And he's a good spacer from 3. He has times where he moves off-ball, but overall he's far less focused on off-ball movement than he was in 14/16. There's a visible increase in spread pick and roll, where Kawhi is slightly over-calibrated towards scoring (though it still leads to pretty good offense).
Creation: His limited passing is apparent. He's a less willing passer than he should be on drives... there were numerous times in the 2nd quarter when he collapsed the defense and had an open 3 to pass out to, but instead chose to shoot (and miss). Still, he does draw enough defensive attention with his scoring that he ends up creating for teammates.
Off-ball: Per above, he has times when he moves off-ball, but it's less of a focus for him. There's slightly less "Beautiful game Spurs" and slightly more spread pick and roll. It still leads to good offense, which is great, but my concern is not necessarily that they're replacing some ball movement with pick and roll. It's instead that Kawhi's replacing some off-ball movement plays with resting in the corner as a floor spacer. He's a good floor-spacer, but there are limits to Kawhi's motor -- it's hard for him to combine peak off-ball Kawhi, peak Iso/PnR Kawhi, and peak defensive Kawhi into the same player.
Regardless, where Kawhi still provides off-ball value is in his offensive rebounding, which is certainly present in this game.
Defense: By my eye, this game supports general consensus: defensively, 2016 Kawhi > 2017 Kawhi > 2019/2021 Kawhi. Kawhi shows good man versatility, often playing KD, but also switching onto the guards and bigs.
He also showed to be a willing helper, often doubling on drives. His help defense and steal attempts aren't super gamble-heavy, though there are occasions where the offense could have punished Kawhi's helping with smart passing. He doesn't recover to Curry / his man quite as fast as I'd like for an All-time-level perimeter defender, but it's not slow by any means.
His defensive rebounding is good.
Defensive cons: That said, his defensive "volume" isn't as high as it was in 2016, to my eye. He had more possessions where he was resting on a relatively still defender. Could this be a case of defensive intimidation, where they try to keep the ball away from Kawhi? Maybe... but still, there's a decrease in defensive volume, whatever the reason. His on-ball defense is also a touch less impactful... he's slightly less of a quick footed, quick-handed ball-hawk compared to his younger years. Overall, a great defender, but not quite 2016 level.
