Despite playing well on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena, the Rockets lost game 1 of the Western Conference Finals 110-106. While being their fifth straight loss to the Warriors this season, it marked the first time that they actually had a chance to win in the second half following four regular season blowouts.
For almost a quarter and a half, the Rockets shredded the NBA’s best defense. They scored 49 points in fewer than 17 minutes helping them to a 16-point lead. Then, with 6:29 left in the first half, Warriors coach Steve Kerr did what he always does- he went small, and from there, the game changed.
Normally, when a team plays small they have a center or a rim protecting power forward surrounded by four perimeter players, but that’s not what the Warriors do. Instead, they have their stretch power forward, 6’7 Draymond Green, play center. That lineup has blitzed teams all season long, and Tuesday was no different. In a blink of an eye, the Rockets lead vanished, and Golden State led at halftime. Let’s take a look at how they got it done.
When you have Dwight Howard going up against a 6’7 stretch four masquerading as a center, it’s logical to think that you’d want to get the ball to him on the block. The Rockets did just that as quickly as they could, but it didn’t work out.
First watch how far out of the paint Howard is when he gets the ball. That’s half the battle when you’re defending the post, especially when you’re at big height disadvantage, but once Howard gets the ball, Green puts on a clinic. Howard’s go to post move is the right-hook, but Green is playing his left shoulder, effectively taking that away. Howard then spins to try and go baseline, but Green moves his feet and cuts that off. His third option is to spin back to the middle, but he spins right into Klay Thompson, who is over to double. He knocks the ball away, which leads to an easy fast break bucket.
On the Rockets next possession, they again look to get Howard involved, but this time he’s the screener on a high pick and roll with James Harden.
Golden State ices the pick and roll by having Green drop back to the free throw line, which is when Harden slows up. He’s looking for someone to get the ball to, with Howard being option number one, but Green and Thompson don’t give him any space, so he pulls up for a jumper, which is left short. Howard is in position for the offensive rebound, an area that the Rockets should be able to have success when the Warriors have this lineup on the floor, but he misses the putback. This play happened after he sprained his knee.
With Green at center and Harrison Barnes or one of the Warrior’s other wings at power forward, the Rockets should have a size advantage at both spots. On the Rockets next trip down, they turned to Josh Smith against Barnes, and he got them a great look, only the Rockets couldn’t finish the play.
The first thing you notice on this play is that when Smith vacates the baseline, Barnes doesn’t move in order to provide a little more resistance for Harden. Shaun Livingston is actually playing Smith as he gets the ball, but hands him back to Barnes so he can check Corey Brewer. Smith pumps on the three, but Barnes does a wonderful job keeping his feet moving, which keeps Smith from getting to the rim. Stephen Curry crashes down on him from the corner, leaving Jason Terry wide open. Smith delivers a perfect pass to him, but he misses the shot. What makes things worse is that Thompson gets the rebound and blows by Terry for a layup. That’s a 5-point swing.
At this point, the Warriors are on a 10-2 run, and have cut the Rockets lead in half. Then, the Rockets help them get a little closer.
This is actually a well-designed play, it’s just isn’t executed. Brewer gets the ball on a curl in the lane. He’s being guarded by Livingston, and Green is there with the help. Howard slips behind both, and Brewer goes over the top with the pass, but Howard with his sprained knee can’t get enough lift to grab the ball, instead, it finds Livingston, and he takes it all the way. What makes this Golden State lineup so devastating is that when you turn it over, anyone on the floor is capable of going coast-to-coast, but not only can all five Warriors on the floor handle, they can also shoot, so on this next play, Capela has to guard Green all the way out at the 3-point line.
Green looks to pass the ball to Curry, but Terry cuts that off. With the shot clock running down, Capela overplays him to his left, so he comes back right and gets by the Rockets rookie. Jones decides to help, which leaves Barnes, a 40 percent 3-pointer shooter, WIDE open.
The spreading of the floor creates driving lanes like on that last play for Green, but it also takes defending bigs out of their comfort zones.
Houston switches a Curry/Green pick and roll, so Capela has to guard the MVP at the 3-point line. Curry misses a long jumper, but notice who the Rockets have in the lane going up for the rebound. Terrence Jones, who had dropped back to help Capela on Curry, and Terry. Since Jones was essentially playing zone, he can’t find anyone to box out, so the rebound falls to Livingston. He gets the ball to Thompson, who misses a left-handed layup, but Jones, again, fails to box anyone out, and Green is their for the tip.
The Warrior’s small lineup causes problems for opposing defenses, but it’s at the other end where it’s special.
This starts out with Harden attacking Andre Iguodala, looking for a 2-for-1, but Iguodala, with some help from Green cuts him off, and since he picks up his dribble, Harden has to get the ball to Trevor Ariza. They’re able to get Iguodala switched off Harden when he gets the ball back, but Barnes is cheating over to Harden. That leaves Curry and Green to guard Terry, Jones, and Capela, but the Rockets can’t take advantage. While Harden is holding the ball, notice the communication by the guys wearing white jerseys. They are aware of where everyone is and what they are supposed to be doing.
In game one, Kerr played the Curry, Livingston, Thompson, Barnes, Green lineup 12 minutes. According to NBA.com, that lineup was on pace to outscore the Rockets 127.2-78.4 per 100 possessions, and that’s with the Rockets playing them about even in the second half. In the five minutes that lineup shared the floor in the first half, the Rockets were outscored by a point each possession, which translates to over 100 points every 100 possessions. They are going to see a lot of the Golden State small lineup as the Western Conference Finals progress. They can’t win the series if they don’t find a way to slow it down.
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