The Golden State Warriors were victorious against the New York Knicks last night by a decisive 92-78 score. The Dubs used an airtight defense to take the Knickerbockers out of their comfort zone and sweet spots on offense.
Indeed, Brandon Rush, Dorell Wright and Kwame Brown brought some toughness as well as some resistance against the likes of Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, which in turn frustrated them into a combined eight-for-27 shooting night.
As impressive as the Warriors defense looked last night, their offense was just as bad throughout most of the game.
With Stephen Curry missing the game with an ankle injury, Golden State started Ishmael Smith who was able to routinely get into the lane and create his own shot. His scoring attempts mind you did not always come within the flow of the offense and consequently occasionally left his teammates just standing around like spectators.
Monta Ellis took a different approach and began trying to isolate his defender to help in the scoring department. The end result was that through two quarters and a half, the Dubs struggled to score. With the starting backcourt trying to figure out whose turn it was to shoot the ball, the Warriors offense became stagnant and repeatedly ended up late in the shot clock trying to get an attempt at the rim.
Mark Jackson then made the key adjustment of the game: he sat his star down with 8:03 left in the third quarter.
With Monta Ellis on the bench, the Warriors offense became crisper as players shared the ball with one another and took high percentage shots. The execution on offense translated into better defense given the fact that the Knicks had less break out opportunities (they scored 24 fast break points in the contest).
Ellis struggled for most of the game because he relied too much on his ability to isolate his defender as opposed to playing within the flow of the offense. Coming into the game against the Knicks, Monta Ellis was converting a mere 30 percent of his field goal attempts in isolation situations according to Synergy Sports.
Thus, having Ellis pound the ball with a defense waiting on his every move from the weak side of the court is a poor recipe for success. And yet, it seemed as though Golden State missed that memo as Ellis did just that on his way to a scoring 10 points on four-for-17 shooting through three quarters. Consequently, Mark Jackson made an adjustment on offense to take advantage of the Knicks offense.
After sitting out a large portion of the third quarter, Jackson inserted Monta at the start of the fourth quarter and had him play with Brandon Rush, Dorell Wright, David Lee and Kwame Brown.
Monta was the team’s point guard by default in the final quarter of the game and the Dubs ran a very simplistic yet unstoppable offense.
Monta held the ball in the middle off the court towards midcourt while David Lee and Kwame Brown stood at the elbows and Dorell Wright camped out near the left baseline. Brandon Rush started out around the right block and ran his man off David Lee at the right elbow and ran passed Kwame on his way towards Wright. Once Rush was done rubbing off Lee, Monta immediately ran a pick-and-roll with David Lee, which forced Amare Stoudemire to hedge out on Ellis.
Synergy Sports tells us that the Warriors starting two-guard was only shooting 33.3 percent from the field when attempting field goals in pick-and-roll situations as the ballhandler, but those scoring attempts came against the likes of Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson (in the first two games against the Clippers and Bulls).
On this night, the player jumping out at Monta was Amare, and Ellis fully took advantage of that by repeatedly turning the corner to score or find the open man.
The Knicks seemed completely dumbfounded by the strategy as they watched Monta Ellis morph into a combination of Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant. The Warriors leading scorer went on a tear in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 points on four-for-five shooting from the field and registering six assists.
The New York Knicks never really figured out how to stop the Monta Ellis show late in the game as the guard was responsible for 25 of the Warriors 28 fourth quarter points.
It’s early in the season, but so far the Golden State Warriors (2-1) not only have a winning record, but they are riding their stingy defense and playmaking shooting guard late in ball games to take them to victory.
Stephen Curry’s absence from the lineup will always be a big blow to the team, but the emphasis on defense is helping the Dubs keep games close where they can go in for the kill late.
Once again, the sample size is quite small; but doesn’t Golden State’s willingness to hold onto to their leading scorer look real good right about now?
It sure does…
Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].
Dominic was the Melo Stopper in the 4th though. Sup with DWright this year? Looks more tentative w/ those shots and what’s up with all of those pump fakes?!?!