Simpler offense helped the Warriors defeat the Spurs in Game 1

The Warriors decided to keep it simple on their final offensive possession in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. With around 20 seconds remaining on the clock, Stephen Curry extended their lead to three points by running a pick-and-roll with Shaun Livingston, who was being guarded at the time by LaMarcus Aldridge. The Warriors spaced the floor by parking Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green on the weakside, which gave Curry all the room he needed to take Aldridge off the dribble on the switch and drain a floater at the free throw line.

After the game, Curry talked about what changed for the Warriors in their second half comeback when they outscored the Spurs by 22 points. Curry said they “simplified things a little bit,” according to Danny Leroux, referring to how they ran more pick-and-rolls and got out in transition for higher percentage shots. Other than Kawhi Leonard’s injury, the pick-and-rolls played a huge role in their success seeing as the Warriors attempted only five shots for eight points directly out of the pick-and-roll in the first half compared to seven shots for 13 points in the second half.

Here’s a closer look at which plays they ran in the first half in Game 1…

…compared to the second half:

The second half numbers are actually slightly misleading because the Warriors used the pick-and-roll more frequently than the data suggests to force switches before attacking them in a variety of ways. For example, Zaza Pachulia scores directly out of the pick-and-roll on this possession when the Spurs decide to trap Curry to prevent him from getting an open 3-pointer or a favorable switch:

However, the Warriors use the pick-and-roll on the following possession as a way of getting Pau Gasol to switch onto Curry. From there, Curry makes a cut to the perimeter and scores against Gasol in isolation by getting him in the air with a pump fake, taking him off the dribble and draining a floater from inside the painted area.

The same goes for this possession: Curry runs a pick-and-roll with Livingston, draws a double team and slips a pass to Livingston on the roll. Rather than trying to finish over Manu Ginobili, Livingston plays the role of Green by kicking the ball to Thompson in the corner for a jump shot. The sequence ends with Thompson attempting a spot-up 3-pointer, but the advantage is created with Curry drawing two defenders in the pick-and-roll at the point of attack.

Perhaps the better way to look at it is the Warriors scored 13 of their 26 made field goals in the second half following a pick-and-roll. It should come as no surprise that the Warriors thrived in that regard, either. Not only do the Spurs have a number of big men who struggle to defend in space — neither Gasol, Aldridge nor David Lee are known as lockdown pick-and-roll defenders — Curry and Durant were two of the best pick-and-roll scorers in the league during the regular season: Curry ranked in the 78.4 percentile with 0.92 points per pick-and-roll possession and Durant ranked in the 85.4 percentile with 0.97 points per pick-and-roll possession.

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The latter is one of the biggest differences between the Warriors and the Rockets. While James Harden led the league in pick-and-roll scoring this season, the Spurs had success defending him in the playoffs by staying home on Houston’s shooters and forcing Harden to take the types of shots he wasn’t comfortable with, such as floaters and mid-range pull-ups. It just so happens that Curry and Durant are elite in those departments. According to NBA Savant, Curry made 50 percent of his floaters this season compared to 38.1 percent from Harden, and both Curry and Durant are volume pull-up shooters. Seeing as they can get it done at three levels — the perimeter, mid-range and at the rim — it makes them harder to game plan for.

Just watch the video below to get a better idea of how that helps the Warriors. Durant gets the switch he wants, waits for the floor to clear and then attacks Aldridge on the switch for a pull-up around the elbow. While that’s going on, Curry uses his gravity as a spot-up shooter to draw his defender out of the paint. It’s not that the Rockets don’t have players who can create for themselves off the dribble, but none of them can do so as effortlessly as Durant and Curry.

It also makes the Warriors less predictable when Curry can do things like split a double team and drain a pull-up in semi-transition. It becomes even harder to defend those plays when the Warriors set a deep screen for him as he crosses halfcourt because the defense has to stop the pull-up 3-pointer, pull-up mid-range and a drive to the basket.

Although the Warriors were one of the best teams scoring out of the pick-and-roll as both the ball-handler and roll man during the regular season, it only accounted for 14.9 percent of their scoring. That was the lowest mark in the league. They prefer to get out in transition, have their shooters move off of screens and cut to open spaces than have the ball stick with one player for long periods of time. That works against most teams, but the Spurs’ pressure in the first half of Game 1 made them uncomfortable with their usual offense.

This possession in particular is a microcosm of their first half issues:

The Spurs are comfortable switching wings onto Curry to prevent him from getting open off of screens and they have enough length in the paint to take away easy looks at the rim. Throw in some aggressive closeouts and the Spurs give up a shot they will live with — a contested long 2-pointer from Thompson, who is struggling in these playoffs — with the clock winding down.

Even the Warriors’ pick-and-rolls weren’t as crisp in the first half. Curry let Gasol off the hook on the following possession by giving the ball up to Thompson on a curl instead of working harder to force the switch. Thompson misses a shot he’ll make more often than not, but Curry was much more aggressive looking for his own shot against mismatches in the second half.

You can also see how important lineups are against a tough defensive team like the Spurs. With Andre Iguodala, JaVale McGee, Green and Livingston on the court, it’s much easier for the Spurs to pack the paint with two bigs. When the Warriors go to the Death Lineup we saw in the fourth quarter with Curry, Thompson, Durant, Green and Livingston, there’s too much space for them to cover as opposed to this awkward possession:

As we learned in their previous series against the Rockets, the Spurs are too good of a team to not bounce back and figure out a way to make those looks tougher moving forward. The Warriors are just a different beast. They have multiple players who can run pick-and-rolls and they have scarier shooters across the board. They proved as much in Game 1 when Curry got them back in the game with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting in the third quarter. Then Durant took over with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the fourth quarter.

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Put it this way: Jeff Van Gundy said down the stretch of Game 1 that the best case scenario for the Spurs was Thompson attempting the wide open 3-pointer he missed off of Livingston’s pass because it took the ball out of Curry and Durant’s hands. As crazy as leaving someone open for a shot he makes 46.8 percent of the time might sound, those are the sorts of decisions teams have to make against the Warriors when they keep it simple.

“Other” plays refers to full court heaves, intentional fouls, careless turnovers etc. Unless otherwise noted, all statistics came from NBA.com/stats.