History has shown us that success in the NBA is, above all, about talent and health and chemistry and, yes, the connection between coaches and players. Yet the truth shows us much of that can be offset by one factor.
Matchups.
That was evident Friday night in Cleveland, where the Warriors learned quite the lesson in a 136-117 loss to the Cavaliers. The score was much closer than the destruction that took place on the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse floor.
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The Warriors (7-2) fell behind early by scores of 20-2, 60-30 and 78-38 – all well before halftime. A second-half rally, mostly by the second unit, could not overcome their calamitous performance in the first half against the 10-0 Cavaliers – the league’s only undefeated team.
Though Golden State’s downfall can be attributed to shoddy work at both ends, much of it was due to the problems posed by a Cavaliers defense with two players, center Jarrett Allen and forward Evan Mobley, standing a shade under 7 feet and possessing pterodactyl-like wingspans.
“You have two great rim protectors in Mobley and Allen,” Brandin Podziemski told reporters in Cleveland. “We didn’t make them work at all. We just were content with, ‘Oh, we see them, let’s pass it.’ Sometimes, you’ve got to take it at them and see what they got.”
speechless... admin is speechless.@evanmobley | #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/gK0cbGF3HB
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) November 9, 2024
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors indeed seemed uninterested in testing Allen and Mobley in the halfcourt. So, they tried outrunning the big men in hopes of getting to their offense before Cleveland could set its defense. That resulted in a succession of risky and wayward passes, most of which became turnovers (13) that gave the Cavs 15 first-half points.
It looked familiar. Insofar as the Cavs swept the Warriors last season, winning by a combined 19 points, this was the third consecutive time Golden State was stymied, mostly by the imposing Allen and the even more imposing Mobley.
“We saw them the last couple years, and it’s the same group,” Kerr said. “They’re playing at a high level right now. They’re young and they’re on the rise. They should be getting better.”
The Warriors found no answers. Trayce Jackson-Davis, surrounded by twin towers, was overmatched. Draymond Green, listed on the morning injury report as “questionable,” didn’t look like himself. The Warriors, particularly in the first half, consistently glanced toward the paint as if it were a toxic swamp.
The result was a Golden State’s first-half performance amounting to a dumpsite.
While the Warriors’ offense was shrinking into a sort of psychological quicksand, finding 42 points on 41-percent shooting from the field, including 31.2 percent beyond the arc, their defense was leakier than at any time this season. A startling collection of blown coverages and late or slow closeouts were exploited, as the Cavaliers rolled up 83 first-half points, shooting 65.3 percent from the field and 63.6 percent from deep.
Meanwhile, Cleveland, which ranks 23rd in the league in rebounding, stared into Golden State’s No. 1 status and crashed its way to a 24-13 advantage on the glass.
“We didn’t make them feel us at all,” said Podziemski, who pulled a team-high-tying seven rebounds in 27 minutes.
“Our defense didn’t come out with enough physicality, enough edge, in the first half,” said Kevon Looney, who came off the bench to equal Podziemski’s seven rebounds. “They’re a really good team. They were moving the ball. We let them get some easy threes to start the game, and once they got their confidence, they had it going and shot the lights out in the first half.”
The second half was appreciably better, with the Warriors finding enough energy to score more points (75-53), grab more rebounds (27-19) and force 13 turnovers – for 25 points – while committing only four.
But that 42-point deficit that hung over Golden State coming out of the locker room after halftime was too much to wipe away. The Cavaliers outworked the Warriors in the first half by a greater margin than the Warriors could generate in the second half.
“We’ve got to respond,” Kerr said. “We need to practice [Saturday]. We’ve got to execute better; we had 13 turnovers in the first half. We were completely disorganized, and that's where I feel like we need the most work. We've got to continue to work on our organization and getting settled, so that we can execute and understand how to execute against a team that's playing at that level defensively.”
Steve Kerr states the Warriors must improve on limiting turnovers before Sunday's game in OKC pic.twitter.com/44PqVApax0
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) November 9, 2024
Kerr probably doesn’t mind that Cleveland is in the Eastern Conference. The Warriors see the Cavaliers only once more this season, on Dec. 30 at Chase Center. Assuming both rosters remain healthy and intact, it will be another challenging matchup.
“I know what I could’ve done better,” Kerr told said. “But I’m not telling you.”
Kerr has two days to find and apply answers, as Sunday afternoon the young and impetuous Oklahoma City Thunder are built to pose similar defensive challenges.
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