Stephen Curry seems on monitor to play Sport 1 of the Warriors’ playoff collection towards the Nuggets, however even when he’s not in a position to handle a full workload, Golden State ought to nonetheless have sufficient offensive firepower to hold them previous Denver.
With Klay Thompson scoring 30-plus factors in 4 of the Warriors’ final six common season video games and Jordan Poole persevering with to emerge as a high-level offensive menace, Golden State is in good condition if it could possibly obtain sufficient supplementary contributions from Andrew Wiggins, Otto Porter Jr. and others till Curry finds a rhythm.
Even when Curry is wholesome and able to play with out a minutes restriction, it’s not scoring that’s Golden State’s prime concern towards Denver.
Defensively, the Warriors’ method in containing NBA MVP front-runner Nikola Jokic will decide whether or not the collection will finish of their favor or in an embarrassing first spherical exit.
Jokic is a three-level menace offensively who can affect a recreation from the put up along with his footwork, contact across the basket and his means to search out the open man with solely a sliver of area to take action. On the perimeter, Jokic has an out of doors jumper that defenses should respect. He shoots 59 p.c from mid-range and a good 33.7 p.c from past the 3-point line.
Stopping Jokic altogether is virtually inconceivable, so in guarding Jokic, the Warriors should determine what they'll attempt to remove and what they'll concede. The alternatives are easy: The Warriors can cease Jokic from being the Nuggets’ main facilitator and shut him off as a passer, or they'll concede photographs and scoring alternatives to Jokic and try to restrict his means to attain.
Within the 4 common season matchups, the Warriors had an inclination to defend Jokic straight up, one-on-one with out offering a lot assist protection and would solely often ship an additional physique to warp the ground. Sending that additional defender to assist cease Jokic is critical at occasions, however when employed by Golden State, this technique produced blended outcomes.
Within the three video games wherein Draymond Inexperienced was the Warriors’ main defender on the Denver star, Jokic shot 60.9 p.c. Heart Kevon Looney’s defensive affect was hit-or-miss as properly. Based on Synergy, there have been 15 possessions wherein Jokic had Looney within the put up. Jokic scored on 9 of them.
Good Protection. Higher Offensehttps://t.co/pBLnkxquMG
— Jannelle Moore (@Jannelle12) April 14, 2022
Theoretically, Looney’s dedication to power Jokic to the perimeter for a contested jumper seen above was a stable method, however the Warriors’ middle finally pressured a put up up that ate away on the shot clock. Looney met Jokic’s power along with his personal, absorbing each bump and forearm shiver till the Nuggets star scored. Jokic can dominate one-on-one conditions, however making him work throughout these encounters is crucial.
Whereas Jokic’s scoring is impactful, it's his facilitating as a passer that’s much more harmful; particularly when the Nuggets lower via the lane. Based on NBA.com, the Nuggets are fourth within the league in lower frequency at 9 cuts per recreation and sixth in effectivity at 1.346. Within the put up, Jokic’s harm is two-fold. Both he’ll feast across the rim or let his teammates eat by creating alternatives to attain from the perimeter.
Both you make Jokic a scorer or a facilitator. Denver thrives with Jokic facilitating https://t.co/xqb1DHp9w8
— Jannelle Moore (@Jannelle12) April 14, 2022
After passing to Jeff Inexperienced, discover how Jokic then units a display screen. Whereas not an ideal display screen on Wiggins on this possession, it was efficient sufficient to create area for Inexperienced’s lower although the lane for a bucket.
What To Anticipate
If the Warriors are going to focus extra intently on limiting one component of Jokic’s affect, it should probably be his scoring. Golden State needs to be prepared to run the chance of Jokic beating the workforce’s protection as a result of it could possibly shut down his teammates.
Denying the passing lanes, and defending Jokic with little to no double groups will make him one-dimensional and negate the affect of the Nuggets’ different scorers. Anticipate the Warriors to cycle via a mixture of Inexperienced, Looney and at occasions Nemanja Bjelica, who will all make Jokic work for his factors.
Sometimes, the Warriors will throw a double workforce to tilt the ground. Whereas doing so, these double groups ought to solely come from the weak facet and people doubles shouldn’t expose a mismatch or create open perimeter appears, which was one of many Warriors’ primary defensive weaknesses this season.
All through the collection, the Warriors should concede and decide their poison whereas defending Jokic. Making him a scorer versus a facilitator is the anticipated method, Nonetheless, they should not solely deploy additional our bodies strategically to curb the urge to over assist, but in addition be diligent in sticking to rotations. If the Warriors do these issues successfully over the course of the collection, they need to advance.