Keys To The Castle: A Warriors Playoff Checklist

 Maintenance

1. Maintain best conference/league record–This one seems as obvious as saying the key to the championship is winning the most games, but it’s slightly more involved than that. Oracle Arena, formerly the Coliseum and better known now as Roaracle, is arguably the league’s biggest home court advantage, and not due to dynamic design (as proposed in Mission Bay), Hollywood theater lighting, or Northwest-style noise-piping, but because of the hardscrabble fan-base, forged in shared agony, who don’t need teleprompting to get on their feet after a slow first quarter start, razz an opposing player’s airball/flop or ref’s blown call, or endorse Steph Curry’s MVP candidacy while at the charity stripe (especially on national TV). The more games you can feed these championship-rabid fans, the better chance of advancing.

2. Maintain health– Another Warriors bugaboo, but how they achieve it is the rub. Spur-adically resting starters and main contributors seems most obvious, and not just the injury-prone stalwarts–Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala–but also the able-bodied Splash Bros–Curry and Klay Thompson–so as to avoid the mental and physical fatigue seen heading into the All-Star break. But along with maintaining health, it’s equally important to preserve sharpness, particularly for Bogut. It’s a fine line to walk between resting enough to avoid injury and exhaustion and yet still retaining touch, fluidity, and continuity, all while sacrificing the least amount of wins possible. Bogut is the key because although he’s the most fragile and therefore needs the most rest, he’s also the half-court offensive facilitator and needs to be in rhythm with the rest of the offensive flow, like the bass in a jazz ensemble–and like many maestros, he can be moody, and it’s up to Kerr and the staff to orchestrate keeping him motivated and focused.

3. Button down offensive order: Players who should be initiating offense–

Always: Curry, Bogut, Klay

Sometimes: Lee, Barbosa, Barnes, Green, Holiday

Never: Speights, Iguodala, Livingston

(Neverevereverever): Rush, Ezeli, Kuzmić

4. Second half/playoff player projections–

The Starters

Bogut: See above.

Curry: Monitor minutes, increase assists per game while decreasing point average–The Warriors function best when Steph is facilitating and involving teammates, who in turn aren’t just watching him and forcing him to do everything himself.

Thompson: Drives lead to jumpers–Klay’s set shot is devastating but can be a touch streaky, especially when he gets stubborn and it’s all the defense has to worry about. About midway through the first half when he was winning multiple player-of-the-week awards and scoring out of his mind, Klay was developing a solid swoop to the hoop where he either beat his man because he was over-aggressively denying the jumper, or putting the breaks on once he hit the key, letting the defender fly by (Goose and Maverick-style!), and putting in a soft one-handed hanger.

Harrison Barnes: Rebound, rebound, rebound–Harrison has untapped potential, but his full game isn’t there yet and shouldn’t be rushed, especially on a title-contender. The Warriors get the most out of him when he is hustling for boards, active on defense, and canning corner 3s–without further development he projects nicely as Bruce Bowen 2.0.

Draymond Green: Soft touch–As coach Steve Kerr says, Green’s the heartbeat of this team, and while his all-out aggression can be frustrating in the form of technicals and repeated mistakes (constantly jumping at pump fakes), it also inspires his teammates to new heights and allows him to play well above his listed size. However, one thing he can improve by tweaking (not sacrificing) his aggression is his shooting touch around the hoop. Jim Barnett harps on this during the broadcasts, but instead of going at the hoop so hard on drives and cuts and trying to finish strong every time, Green’d be best served to use pump fakes and softer/trickier release points around the rim, similar to the way Curry has immensely improved his finishing this year.

The Point/Guards

Iguodala: Less is more–Iggy’s recent three-point success is a bonus and is always welcomed within the flow of the offense, but he makes his best contributions away from the ball–cutting off drivers, closing down passing lanes, and deflecting balls in order to initiate fast-breaks, as well as mentoring and being a team spokesman and leader. Although he’s an offensive Jack-of-all-trades, at this point in his career, he’s a master of none, and I would severely limit his ball-handling and decision-making duties.

Shaun Livingston: Iggy Jr.–The Warriors two ostensible back-up point guards (Livingston and Iguodala) are surprising shaky ball-handlers and decision-makers. Livingston, in particular, needs to stick to his strengths, which are long, knowledgable defense and offensive post-ups, with the occasional drive and pull-up, but generally keep the ball moving on offense with much less dribbling and thinking.

Leandro Barbosa: The Bra-zilian zapper–Unlike his counterparts Liv and Iggy, The Blur is instant offensive off the bench, similar to Vinnie Johnson’s Microwaving ability to score early, often, and unpredictably back in the day. I prefer Barbosa on the drive and quick release while limiting the jumpers and ditching the pretense of PG passing.

Justin Holiday: Curry Light–When discussing Green earlier, I brazenly suggested that all he had to do was finish like Curry–obviously that’s much easier said than done. Similarly, while Holiday has nowhere near the touch, range, drive, or finish of Curry, he can be successful by borrowing from Curry’s bag of tricks–namely, spot-up threes and harassing on-ball defense. If Holiday can consistently do those two things off the end of the bench, he too can be like Steph!

The Bench Bigs

David Lee: Separating the garbage, recycling, and compost–I’ve been waiting for D.Lee to either regain his shooting touch or increase his trade value during extended garbage-time run, but neither has happened and the deadline has passed. Well it’s time to shit or get off the pot–he either needs to salvage his spin moves and release around the rim and fifteen feet extended to make up for his crappy defense, or it’s a lost cause.

Marreese Speights: Catch-and-release and tip monster–Mo-Bucket$ needs to regain his early season scoring prowess by catching and shooting instead of pausing, pumping, or [shudder] driving; staying active on the offensive boards; and moderating his floppy defense.

Festus Ezeli: Expand Ezeli–The Warr need to figure out a way to keep Ezeli healthy and extend his minutes in order to evaluate his post-injury abilities within Kerr’s system and integrate him into the team flow for when the eventual Bogut/Lee injury hits.

Posted by DT on February 24, 2015