You all know I'm a Warriors fan. But I can't exactly gloat over the Warriors right now because I confess I was the last one to see this coming.
After all, the Celtics were bigger, taller, younger, more athletic than the Warriors. They'd played a much tougher schedule to get to the Finals, having taken out Kyrie and Durant in a four-game sweep, then beaten both the Bucks and the Heat in seven games. They were the #1 rated defense in the NBA. And, like the rest of the league, they'd pretty much caught up with the one edge the Warriors used to have, three-point shooting.
It all reminded me of our Griz going up against a Power Five #1 or #2 seed at the Big Dance. So how do you defeat a bigger better team, toughened by a more difficult schedule?
Sure, it helps to have the incomparable Steph Curry on your side. But after a horrendous first game where the Warriors dominated all but the final quarter, they won four of the next five games, two on Boston's hallowed parkay home court.
There were two critical keys.
One, "strength in numbers." I always thought this was just a phrase that meant little but in this series the Warriors got key contributions from four non-starters: Poole, Payton, Porter and Bjelica (and many Warrior fans were clamoring for minutes from Kuminga.) The Celtics meanwhile, stuck to an EIGHT-man rotation--of which Pritchard and Grant Williams were pretty much ineffective, Robert Williams was hurt and Horford was 36. Going into the final game, I likened the Celtics to George Foreman against Muhammed Ali--they just looked tired. Spent. Ready for the knockout. In the final game, the Boston bench contributed five (!) points to the Warriors' 21.
Hmmm....EIGHT-man rotation. Does that sound familiar?
But second, the Warriors pushed the ball. You go back and watch that incredible 21-0 run they put on the Celtics to ice the final game, and they were blasting down the court--Green, Thompson, Poole...grab a rebound, turn and GO! Wiggins got two layups. Poole got open three's. Even the announcer said, "The Warriors don't want to face the Celtics' half-court defense." And they made a lot of that run with Curry on the bench to start the second quarter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMwdiky5Zcw
Pushing the ball--does that sound familiar to a Griz fan? It does not.
What sounds familiar to a Griz fan is w-a-l-k-i-n-g the wall up the court, to face a defense that's already in place, locked down, ready to defend. The EXACT thing the Warriors could not afford to do against the superior defense of the Celtics.
I believe the Griz now have a roster capable of playing Warriors-style basketball. Which is, they have rebounders. They have guys who can get out an run. And they have depth like perhaps they haven't had before.
I don't know how as a coach you can watch what the Warriors did to the Celtics and fail to take lessons from it--especially if you're a mid-major up against bigger, more athletic teams. I trust DeCuire was watching.
After all, the Celtics were bigger, taller, younger, more athletic than the Warriors. They'd played a much tougher schedule to get to the Finals, having taken out Kyrie and Durant in a four-game sweep, then beaten both the Bucks and the Heat in seven games. They were the #1 rated defense in the NBA. And, like the rest of the league, they'd pretty much caught up with the one edge the Warriors used to have, three-point shooting.
It all reminded me of our Griz going up against a Power Five #1 or #2 seed at the Big Dance. So how do you defeat a bigger better team, toughened by a more difficult schedule?
Sure, it helps to have the incomparable Steph Curry on your side. But after a horrendous first game where the Warriors dominated all but the final quarter, they won four of the next five games, two on Boston's hallowed parkay home court.
There were two critical keys.
One, "strength in numbers." I always thought this was just a phrase that meant little but in this series the Warriors got key contributions from four non-starters: Poole, Payton, Porter and Bjelica (and many Warrior fans were clamoring for minutes from Kuminga.) The Celtics meanwhile, stuck to an EIGHT-man rotation--of which Pritchard and Grant Williams were pretty much ineffective, Robert Williams was hurt and Horford was 36. Going into the final game, I likened the Celtics to George Foreman against Muhammed Ali--they just looked tired. Spent. Ready for the knockout. In the final game, the Boston bench contributed five (!) points to the Warriors' 21.
Hmmm....EIGHT-man rotation. Does that sound familiar?
But second, the Warriors pushed the ball. You go back and watch that incredible 21-0 run they put on the Celtics to ice the final game, and they were blasting down the court--Green, Thompson, Poole...grab a rebound, turn and GO! Wiggins got two layups. Poole got open three's. Even the announcer said, "The Warriors don't want to face the Celtics' half-court defense." And they made a lot of that run with Curry on the bench to start the second quarter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMwdiky5Zcw
Pushing the ball--does that sound familiar to a Griz fan? It does not.
What sounds familiar to a Griz fan is w-a-l-k-i-n-g the wall up the court, to face a defense that's already in place, locked down, ready to defend. The EXACT thing the Warriors could not afford to do against the superior defense of the Celtics.
I believe the Griz now have a roster capable of playing Warriors-style basketball. Which is, they have rebounders. They have guys who can get out an run. And they have depth like perhaps they haven't had before.
I don't know how as a coach you can watch what the Warriors did to the Celtics and fail to take lessons from it--especially if you're a mid-major up against bigger, more athletic teams. I trust DeCuire was watching.