How have the Golden State Warriors slowed Kyrie Irving in the NBA Finals?
If the Cavaliers are going to defeat the Warriors in the 2017 NBA Finals, they’re going to need Kyrie Irving to be the second or third best player on the court for at least four games. That much became clear in the 2016 NBA Finals when Irving averaged 30.0 points on 51.1 percent shooting from the field in the games the Cavaliers won, which included a 30-point performance in Game 3, a 41-point outburst in Game 5 and a 26-point showing in Game 7. In the three games the Cavaliers lost, however, he averaged 23.3 points on only 40.6 percent shooting from the field.
Those numbers are eerily similar to what Irving is averaging following two losses in these NBA Finals: 21.5 points per game on 40.0 percent shooting from the field. He scored 24 points in Game 1 on 22 shot attempts and followed it up with 19 points on 23 shot attempts in Game 2. Other than a few possessions against Ian Clark in Game 2, he hasn’t looked anything like the explosive scorer he was against the Celtics in the previous round, or the one we saw against the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.
A lot of Irving’s struggles have to do with the defense Klay Thompson has played on him in isolation and the pick-and-roll. That’s important because Irving was one of the best isolation scorers — 94.9 percentile with 1.12 points per possession — and pick-and-roll scorers — 82.9 percentile with 0.96 points per possession — during the regular season. Compare that to him shooting 35.3 percent in isolation and 41.6 percent in the pick-and-roll in this series and the Warriors have slowed him down in two areas that usually make up over half of his scoring.
Read More: Should the Cavaliers just let Kevin Durant score?
Not all of those have come against Thompson, of course, but five of Irving’s 17 shot attempts in isolation in the 2017 NBA Finals have come against him…
…as have nine of his 12 shot attempts in the pick-and-roll.
In total, Irving is 0-for-5 against Thompson in isolation and 3-for-9 against him in the pick-and-roll. The only success he has had scoring against Thompson is on a handful of backdoor cuts aided by the gravity of Kyle Korver and LeBron James.
One of the opening possessions in Game 1 showed why Thompson has the physical tools to give Irving problems in isolation. Beyond the obvious height and length advantage, Thompson has the foot speed to keep up with Irving off the dribble and take away the straight-line drives he normally feasts on. That helps Thompson eliminate Irving’s first option in the following video and force him into taking a tough left-handed floater from just inside the paint over his long arms.
Irving has made the same shot in these playoffs, but there’s a big difference between how Thompson defends it above compared to how Jeff Teague does below.
You’ll notice Irving has the time and space to make the Pacers react to him whereas he’s forced to react to Thompson’s defense. The degree of difficult on those shots becomes much greater against the Warriors because of their attention to detail and their versatility across the board.
As long as Thompson can keep Irving in front of him, other players can also leave their assignments to help when needed. It’s where the addition of Kevin Durant makes a big difference — he has the length to help off of his assignment and provide additional resistance without giving up passes to open shooters.
That’s why the Warriors have had success guarding isolation-depended scorers like Irving and James Harden in the past. Not only do they have the one-on-one defenders to keep up with them, they have the help defense behind them to be aggressive. For example, notice how every member of the Warriors has their eyes on Irving on this isolation possession from Game 1:
Thompson is normally the primary defender on Irving, but Durant is capable of guarding quicker guards in isolation, which allows him to press up on Irving to take away the pull-up 3-pointer without putting himself in position to get taken off the dribble. When Irving does begin to make his move, Durant funnels him towards Draymond Green underneath the rim while Shaun Livingston covers Richard Jefferson and Kyle Korver on the weak side.
Although the end result is another makeable shot for Irving, it’s incredibly difficult for him to finish consistently over two long defenders in Durant and Green. If Irving scores in volume off of those types of shots, the Warriors will have no choice but to live with it.
It’s a similar case on this possession in semi-transition. Green is supposed to be guarding Richard Jefferson on the 3-point line, but he decides to drop back to provide some rim protection in case Irving gets to the basket. Thompson keeps Irving in front of him once again and contests the pull-up well enough to force another miss when Irving decides to shoot instead of pass.
Irving has had some success against the Warriors in the pick-and-roll, particularly in Game 1. When less nimble bigs like Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee are on the floor, it’s not hard for him to create a pull-up from midrange or a layup for himself when he’s able to run Thompson into the screen and put one of them in an island. However, Thompson generally does a good job of fighting through the initial screen…
…and the Warriors have the personnel to throw multiple bodies at Irving and still recover to less capable shooters on kickouts.
It’s also slightly different when the secondary defender is Durant…
…or Green…
…instead of Pachulia or McGee.
As Nate Jones tweeted during Game 2, there is a possibility that Irving’s knee — the same one that was giving him trouble at the end of the regular season — has been bothering him in the NBA Finals. It would explain him not having the same burst that he usually does when it comes to scoring in isolation and out of the pick-and-roll. Even so, as was the case with Stephen Curry in the 2016 NBA Finals, it’s hard to use that as an excuse without knowing more about his situation.
Next: Has Curry figured out how to defend LeBron pick-and-rolls?
It doesn’t change the fact that Thompson in particular has defended him about as well as you could ever expect from someone through two games either. We’ve seen Irving put up big numbers on similar shots in the past, but the Warriors have matched his every step to this point in the series. Until Irving figures it out, the Cavaliers are going to be in trouble.