Draymond Green's Game Winner

After surviving a Shane Battier three pointer miss on one end, the Warriors came back with a chance to win the game.  Golden State had numerous players they could go to to win it.  Jarrett Jack, Klay Thompson, and David Lee had big games.  Stephen Curry is the team's best player.  Draymond Green is...wait...nobody thought the ball was going to go to the rookie second round pick.  It was villain ball, the opposite of hero ball.  While the play wasn't designed for Green, he was an option that the ball actually went to, something you don't usually see late in games.

The play featured Klay Thompson and Steph Curry, the team's two best shooters coming around screens on opposite sides of the floor.  David Lee alluded to this in his post game interview with Sun Sports.  He also talked about the fact that if the Heat over helped (which they had been doing all night) the big man were to slip the screen.

That's exactly what happened on the near side of the court.  Shane Battier helped so as not to let Klay Thompson get the ball for a catch and shoot jumper.  This left Green free to dive to the rim.  Normally in this situation a defender on the weakside will rotate over, but the two weakside defenders are defending the other curl and can't help.

When Jack found Green for the easy layup I may or may not have let out a primal scream.

 
        

The Suns Take Advantage of a Dubs Defensive Lapse

On of the biggest questions for the Warriors this year is going to be their defense.  Andrew Bogut is going to be a huge help, but he isn't a magician that will fix all the bad habits.  Golden State won their final preseason game, but showed some worrisome defense on this particular play in the second quarter.

The Suns come out with a pretty standard inbound set up with the point guard standing below a big man on the ball side.  Most side out of bounds plays feature the guard taking a down screen from the big man and popping to the top of the key.  The big is in the post/elbow area as a safety valve (and sometimes even the first option). 

As explained earlier, Luis Scola sets a down screen and the guard is opened up at the top.

He receives the ball at the top and everything seems fine.  The defense is in position and there aren't any mismatches.

The ball is swung twice and eventually ends up on the near wing.  On the far side, Scola is setting a screen for the inbounder who is cutting towards the lane.  You see David Lee helping out.  The initial receiver of the ball also cuts toward Scola after swinging it.

The initial ball handler now sets a screen for Scola whose man is already helping out.  The usually effective screen the screener.  Now David Lee is trapped and has to pick his poison.  Does he leave the man he's helping on and allow an easy layup or stay put and allow an open 18 footer (money for Scola).  He actually makes the right decision.  Jarret Jack, defending the screener, needs to help out on Scola.  He doesn't (and actually isn't even close) which shows either inexperience in Mark Jackson's system or lack of communication from his teammates.  Either way, the fact that such a wide open shot can be attained by a simple out of bounds play should be disturbing for all Warriors fans.  Hopefully strides can be made as a team defense this year and Bogut's communication will certainly help, but until the big Aussie comes back there will certainly be some stupid mistakes like this. 

What Does Jarret Jack Bring to the Warriors

There will not be a crisis when Stephen Curry goes out of the game

What does he bring to the table?

• Smart ball handler who does not turn it over (16th highest assist/turnover ratio among players who had played at least 20 games at over 15 MPG) 
• Great pick and roll ball handler (0.94 points per possesion (PPP), 19th in the NBA)
• Polished scorer who shot above 40% from every spot on the floor
• Can hit from deep (shot a good but not great 36.1% on spot up threes)
• Creates his own offense (only 27.1% of his baskets were assisted)
• Great rebounder (4.6 rebounds per 40 minutes)

What does he take off of it?

• Not a good defender (allowed 0.89 PPP overall 302nd in the league and averaged a mere 0.81 steals per 40 minutes)
• Inefficient, high volume isolation player (shot 34% on isolations and only drew a foul 3.5% of the time.  Despite that, isos were 15% of his possessions)
• High usage (23.32) for a player of his caliber

When Chris Paul was traded last offseason, Jarret Jack was put into the starting point guard role.  He did not do a bad job taking over for the best point guard in the NBA.  This year Jack will spell Stephen Curry and be a solid spot starter, something the Dubs were in sore need of with Curry's ankle woes.  He will take off some pressure to start that Curry might feel.  I am very interested to see how coach Mark Jackson uses Jack.  Jack has the size to defend 2s and the handle to play the point.  One thing I want to see is for Jack to be in the game with Curry.  Curry can be curling off screens and hitting threes and Jack can be handling the ball.  Jack adds a lot of options and can be part of some very unique lineups for this Warriors team.