Quoting from last week’s post:
“Monta gets his assists in fast forward. He’s been getting a lot of them lately, to the tune of an 8.2 average over these opening games. Ellis flies through defenses like an untied balloon, calmly dumping the ball to an open man at the very last millisecond. Monta, the mid-air point guard, dropping vertical passes like so many Zeus lightening bolts. This can’t be sustainable. It feels so right.”
No, it wasn’t sustainable. A playmaker cannot notch eight assists per game on a diet of mostly mid-air drive-and-kicks. In the first quarter of the Jazz game, I noticed that Utah’s defenders were jumping towards Golden State players as a driving Ellis left his feet. Since Monta’s been hurting teams via distribution, Tyrone Corbin’s men were keyed to stymie this attack.
They did so most successfully in the game’s most important moment, an Ellis turnover with 17 seconds left. Let us look at how it (blurrily) unfolds.
Klay Thompson has some space as Monta probes. Devin Harris lurks apart from Klay, hidden behind some larger bodies.
Klay is open as Ellis leaves his feet, and he’s calling for the ball. But the lurking Harris is watching both players, primed to jump the passing lane. If Harris gambles and misses on a pass to Thompson, the Jazz have little fear of a 5.69 PER rookie hitting from deep.
Ellis turns to make his pass–perhaps he heard Klay call for it. Harris begins to jump the route like a savvy cornerback. Devin has been baiting Monta the whole time, anticipating a kick out to an “open” shooter. This reminds me of how crafty players can secure jump balls. If the opposing team has the bigger jump baller, it’s sometimes wise to play far off your man. When the tip goes up, race towards your “open” opponent and nab the batted ball that was meant for him. Reacting to the unexpected is time consuming. If an athlete expects what’s coming, he can triumph over an athleticism gap, thanks to a quicker reaction. Expect what happens, and you can dictate what happens.
Harris deflects the ball, and we’re off to the races. The steal ends in a Gordon Hayward free throw that becomes the game winner.
What does this sequence speak to? In my opinion, it illustrates GSW’s limitations. They rely on Monta to create more than he can, and to do it on behalf of lackluster talent. Utah could not have pulled this off if they legitimately feared Thompson. Monta’s flaws as a pick-and-roll technician caused the Warriors to run this play as a flattened-out isolation. The ensuing action was predictable, GSW’s options were limited in scope and ability. It’s a microcosm of their micro season.