How the Golden State Warriors attacked Kyle Korver

The Golden State Warriors summarily beat the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, leading from start to finish to exact some small amount of revenge over the team that had beaten them four times in a row, dating back to the 2016 NBA Finals. In a game that got out of hand so early, it’s hard to glean anything specific about how these two teams could match up in June, but there was one addition to the battle who wasn’t present for the previous four games.

Kyle Korver got his introduction to the rivalry, recently joining the Cavaliers after being traded from the Atlanta Hawks, and the Warriors went at him every way they could during the competitive portion of the game. After a lackluster offensive start, Korver was the first man off the bench for Tyronn Lue and the Cavaliers, but he was able to do very little to stem the tide. He played the final 7:19 of the first quarter and the first 5:14 of the second and finished that stretch with a -10 plus-minus as Golden State looked to take advantage of his defensive lapses on multiple occasions.

Two early Kyrie Irving fouls prompted Korver’s entry into the game a bit earlier than normal, which meant that he was being thrown onto the floor against the Warriors’ starting unit. He doesn’t have a natural matchup in that configuration — there’s no Andre Iguodala or Shaun Livingston for him to guard while providing help elsewhere. Korver ended up matched up against Klay Thompson, which didn’t end well for the newly acquired 35-year-old.

Stephen Curry and Draymond Green run a decoy pick-and-roll on the left side of the floor while Kevin Durant and Thompson both come around a down screen from Zaza Pachulia. Durant comes around the screen at half-speed; he’s also just a decoy for LeBron James to ensure he’s occupied enough to not help onto Thompson. Thompson pauses under the basket, gives Korver a quick elbow, and then flies around the screen for an open mid-range jumper.

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Korver’s height and length have helped to sustain his defensive skills as his athleticism has waned in recent years, but he’s never been particularly adept at getting through screens. That same size that aids him in isolation or help defense makes it easier for screeners to get a piece of him.

Side note: This is what makes Paul George so amazing defensively. He’s two inches taller than Korver yet slithers through and around screeners like they’re not even there. It’s a special skill that very few wings have. You can’t kill Korver for not being able to get through these screens, but it does make him a target when he’s defending a shooter like Thompson.

The Warriors took aim at Korver on out-of-bounds plays as well, putting him through a blender of screens on this BLOB set:

Thompson begins the play on the far side and simply cuts from one elbow to the opposite wing, supported by screens from Iguodala (with perhaps a hint of illegality, watch him push Tristan Thompson into Korver’s path) and Pachulia. Korver goes under the screens and Thompson ends up with a wide-open 3-pointer. He misses, but those are shots the Warriors will take every time they can get them.

The Warriors went to their bench at the start of the second quarter, which meant Korver no longer had to contend with Thompson, but Golden State went after Korver in a different fashion: They ran in transition and used Korver’s inclination to be the first man back against him.

In the first video, Green picks up the ball in transition, sees Korver in front of him, and immediately bullies his way to the rim. In the second, Livingston pulls up for his signature mid-range jumper, even though there were still more than 16 seconds on the shot clock. It was clear early on in the second quarter that the Warriors were going to run at Korver in transition; whoever brought the ball up would barrel straight down the lane.

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It’s still early in Korver’s Cleveland tenure, but this game didn’t do anything to allay fears of how he’ll match up against Golden State in a potential NBA Finals series. The Cavaliers needed another shooter with J.R. Smith sidelined and Mike Dunleavy, Jr. not working out nearly as well as they had hoped. But if Smith’s injury is worse than initially feared or he has trouble coming back from breaking the thumb on his shooting hand, Korver may be pressed into service on the biggest stage of his career.

Korver will be ready mentally for it, but the physical and athletic toll it will take for him to chase after Golden State’s shooters may prove too much for him.