One Stop Wonders
The Golden State Warriors are a nightmare to score against at all times, but even more so with a chance to set up their best defensive lineups.
The Golden State Warriors led by five with roughly thirty seconds remaining in their Friday night matchup with the Boston Celtics. The game was more or less in hand, but the Celtics had the ball and time to set up a play coming out of a timeout. Getting a stop would essentially seal the victory for the Warriors.
Golden State leveraged the break in the action to deploy a defense-first lineup of the quality very few teams in the league could match. Kevon Looney, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Andrew Wiggins, and Gary Payton II stepped onto the court and squeezed the life out of Boston like a basketball boa constrictor of length, quick hands, and impeccable timing and decision making.
Take away the first action to get Jaylen Brown a look by the basket. Perfect double and rotation onto Tatum on the kickout. Excellent help clogging the lane on Brown driving off a second kickout. Good strip by Iguodala recovering to the ballhandler. Turnover. Ballgame.
It was a masterclass in defense, and one that should come as no surprise given the personnel in play. Green is in the conversation for the best defender of all time. Payton is a present day all-defense caliber player. Iguodala was one in his prime, and is still a menace when he turns up his intensity on specific plays.
Wiggins and Looney aren’t nearly as good as their peers, but they’re both big and reliably in the right spots. The former also happens to be athletic enough to stay with pretty much anyone in the league when he’s locked in. And the Warriors have other options too.
Juan Toscano-Anderson and Otto Porter provided more mobility at the big position, if needed. Steph Curry is plenty serviceable, and in some matter of weeks Golden State will add Klay Thompson back into the mix.
The Warriors don’t frequently max out their defense when constructing lineups. The combination of Green, Iguodala, Wiggins, and Payton has played just 5 total possessions together, per Cleaning the Glass. They’ve allowed just one score - a three pointer after an offensive rebound - for what it’s worth.
Leaning into the team’s defensive prowess so aggressively requires that Golden State sacrifice a lot of its offensive potency, but the fact the Warriors can keep so many fantastic defensive players with real offensive warts on their roster is a testament to just how much flexibility having a singular offensive talent in Curry affords.
It has tons of trickle down effects, including being able to unleash hell on opponents on individual possessions. Teams may want to reconsider just how much benefit there is to calling a timeout to draw up a play in a close game’s final minutes if it gives Golden State the opportunity to set its defense and maximize its defensive personnel.