Kerr put him in for another early stint against the Bulls, again due to a lack of hustle and defensive energy. He's immediately put on DeRozan, who baits with the up-fake and gets him airborne for the foul. He's not the first victim or the last
I love his fight against Alize Johnson on the boards. Denies him the position on the baseline, and pushes him back out towards the free throw line. Gets a hand on the ball to tip it back and finish the defensive possession
Picks up DeRozan full court and does a fantastic job. Keeping pressure on him with his body, moving his feet in sync, and staying vertical with his hands. Iguodala is able to anticipate on the dig and block the shot
Another great sequence here on DeRozan. DeMar rejects the screen in favor of iso, but Kuminga moves his feet extremely well, beating him to both spots right and left. Notice how his hands are switching with DeMar. Cuts off Dosunmu to force the turnover and leaks out in transition
Athleticism and length like this allow Kuminga to get over the top of Alize Johnson again for the defensive rebound without having to put his body into his back. Great spring without a run-up
Picks up Zach LaVine full-court, who uses a Johnson screen to try to free himself. Kuminga is able to shift his momentum by swinging his weight to the right side and extends to get a great contest on LaVine who misses wide right. Flies up the floor on the leakout but Lonzo denies
Third straight possession where he's in DeMar's jersey for the entire isolation. Kuminga can flip his hips so quickly, allowing him to stick with smaller players. Again the active hands make it difficult to find a window, but eventually DeRozan gets one for the tough two
Kerr calls for the inverted pick-and-pop with Kuminga as the 4 and the stretch 5 Porter Jr drawing the rim defense out. Lonzo can't abandon Steph at the perimeter after the screen, and Tyler Cook has no chance of staying with Kuminga. Beautiful play and execution
This is the most separation DeRozan is able to create against Kuminga so far. Even when getting him on his back foot with the gather dribble, Kuminga is able to spring and get a decent contest.
Another inverted pick and fade with Steph, but this time Lonzo stunts on the drive. Cook hesitates momentarily, and Kuminga can choose between the open shot or the driving lane. Glad to see he's choosing B, going in hard and finishing high off the glass over Derrick Jones Jr
I love @NekiasNBA's explanation of the 3 stages of passing: recognizing a window, knowing how to attack it, and executing. Kuminga checks the first two, seeing the Steph cut and using the bounce pass to get it in. It's a bit unlucky that Lonzo's arm catches this pass. Great play
Both Kuminga and Troy Brown Jr, the far corner help, know that Tyler Cook is food on the drive. Kuminga rejects the screen and goes to his left, drawing the early stunt from Brown. Kuminga makes a nice skip pass to Moses Moody for the good corner three look
The split action here creates a lane for Moses Moody to dive. Kuminga recognizes Moody is open and Dosunmu isn't tracking him, keeping the ball on his left so the defense thinks the handoff is coming. Then switches to his right fast, slings it, and nobody has a chance to contest
Great recognition off the switch to point JTA towards Tyler Cook, and he gets a violent strip. Kuminga hustles for the ball and beats the Bulls to it, then races down the floor for a powerful two-handed jam. Smart business decision by Troy Brown Jr.
Rejecting the Jordan Poole screen creates a lane to the rim, but JTA isn't looking for it. Poole gets him the ball back with a nice no-look pass, and he attacks the closeout to absolutely dust Tyler Cook (again). Another violent two-handed jam to close the book on Kuminga's night
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It's time for a mega-thread of Kevon Looney's statue-building 4/20/9 performance against the Kings to deliver the win on...4/20. Let's dive into it.
First and foremost is the rebounding. He needed to do it all by himself for GSW to get a rebounding edge, and did just that. Watch how he gets positioned and coiled with Sabonis boxing him out, preparing to spring for the board at the exact right moment.
Look at the effort to save this end-of-shotclock heave. Without even having good position or any help, he uses his determination and long reach to fight for the rebound over three Kings all by himself
Let's talk about James Wiseman's 30-point performance against Brooklyn. The third-year center posted a career-high 30 points, showing off a lot of his strengths alongside his weaknesses. Time to take a closer look at the tape:
Wiseman is assertive about wanting the ball in the post, and it's even more of a weapon against a small-ball team like Brooklyn. When almost every player defending you is a physical mismatch, get position and make decisive moves to the basket.
It requires some craft to pick the right times to flash open in the post. After Jordan Poole runs the baseline cut, expecting an Anthony Lamb exit screen, Wise flashes to the middle with deep position on Royce O'Neale, then turns and slams off the catch.
Every Warriors fan knows how Steph gets mauled shooting on a nightly basis, but last nights game against Portland was egregious. I watched every jump shot from both teams from last night to point out how ridiculously ignorant referees are of how Steph is defended. Threaded below.
First possession of the game, Steph uses the Kevon Looney screen to get freed at the break. Dennis Smith Jr. is able to mostly wiggle around it but catches Steph on the wrist. You can see him pull his arm back, the classic sign of guilt. No call.
Take your pick: Little clearly gets Steph on the wrist while also taking up a good chunk of his landing space. Directly in front of the ref. No call
Gonna thread some Emoni Bates clips here in anticipation of more #words
Wanted to qualify all of this by saying this entire Memphis offense is a mess, so starting with a clip that shows some of that. No movement, cutters, screens, everyone staring at the ball.
Emoni is pretty good at using his height on defense when in the lane. Denies any lane for a good shot or entry pass and forces the player into a tough hook shot off the glass
I get why people saw the Kevin Durant in Emoni Bates through his high school/youth circuit days. For a 6’9” wing this is some impressive control of his momentum to slow himself into a controlled shot.
Posting some Franz clips that stood out against the Dubs because he rocks and everyone should know about him.
Using the WCJ screen, Franz gets leverage on Wiggins and puts him in hip jail. That allows him to wait for WCJ to recover and seal off the paint, then he goes up for two
Great way to manipulate Jordan Poole's tag from the far side. When Franz drives, Wendell Carter dives, and that forces the tag on WCJ from Poole so that Draymond isn't 1v2 in the paint. Franz reads it all the way, firing the ball to the far corner for the open three
Another example of Franz's size, handle and patience getting him a layup. Switched on Jordan Poole, he already has the size mismatch, and WCJ vacates the paint along with Kevon Looney. Once Loon is out, Franz spins away from him and Draymond to go up strong over Poole for two
Throwing out some clips from the Dubs' blowout against the Orlando Magic last night, as we got a big dose of the whole roster.
With Kevon coming to screen Cole Anthony's left, Mo Bamba follows him, and Steph spins in the opposite direction to get the open three. Nasty stuff
Jordan Poole's start/stop ability is just incredible. With Gary Harris not anticipating the Draymond screen, there's no chance for Orlando to stop this bucket
Great slow-mo shot of Jordan Poole using the eye/head fake to get Gary Harris up in the air before dropping the pass off to Gary Payton II