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Kawhi had monster scoring numbers in Game 2 (34 pts, 63% TS), but it was one of his worst defensive games of the playoffs. A mini-thread...
(Apologies in advance to Kawhi fans for my repeated pushback against his booming narrative, but that's kind of my thing.) 1/9
(Apologies in advance to Kawhi fans for my repeated pushback against his booming narrative, but that's kind of my thing.) 1/9
In Thinking Basketball, I wrote about how "Scoring Blindness" leads us to overrate iso scoring. But because of it, we *also* overrate on-ball defense, where Kawhi excels. People then take it as a given that "his defense was elite" and stack credit when he scores big in games. 2/9
In the 1st Q, he shows his typical strong man D when Draymond challenges him. Quick hips, good position the whole way and strong/long contest. He also stepped up on a Draymond transition drive 2 plays prior. 3/9
But watch how he lags behind Klay on this inbounds. If Siakam's not well placed it's a layup, and then he's sort of caught in no man's land when Siakam switches to Klay. It's very close to a dunk if, for instance, Looney has better hands. 4/9
I really liked this closeout here -- Draymond seems to change his mind when he sees Lowry in charge position and the extra beat allows Kawhi's sprint to bother the shot a bit. 5/9
But then he's back on Draymond here and he just completely falls asleep. The idea is that Draymond's not a threat, but against GS you can't be detached from bigs because they can screen for Curry/Klay like this. 6/9
Kawhi didn't seem effective in this "roamer" role -- wasn't able to blow up actions with help and whatnot. And here in the 3rd, again, he sags off Draymond and still gets completely blown by off the bounce for a basket. 7/9
Finally, Klay gets him again with a cut where Kawhi's detached just enough that he can't stay with him. Against most players this isn't an issue -- it might even look like solid defense -- but Klay Thompson will get you once or twice a game like this if you aren't on it. 8/9
He also struggled with playmaking in a few spots & had issues with ball security (5 TOV to 3 assists), making it a good example of a strong-reputation defender posting scoring numbers that vastly overstate his impact on the game because he was shaky in so many other areas. 9/9
