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The micro and macro adjustments that led to the Warriors’ 2-1 series lead over
the Rockets

Dubs gain control of the driver’s seat despite Jimmy Butler’s absence.

By Joe Viray@JoeVirayNBA  Apr 27, 2025, 10:32am PDT  8 Comments / 12 New

With the rather unfortunate news of Jimmy Butler’s absence in Game 3 — forcing
 Steve Kerr to rethink his starting lineup and rotations — the Golden State War
riors were, on paper, faced with an enormous mountain to climb, with Steph Curry
 being their only consistent shot creator, advantage generator, and point produc
er left on the team, in a 6’2” package that recently just saw its 37th year of
 existence.



To put it simply, Curry is considered old in professional basketball circles. Bu

t old age hasn’t stopped him from continuing his elite ways. Despite that truth
, the burden he was suddenly inundated with doesn’t help him get any younger —
 nor does it make the Houston Rockets’ job trying to contain him any harder, at
 least on paper. It was easy as putting two to the ball with Curry handling the
rock, or continuing their physical ways off the ball through a variety of ways t
hat tread the thin line between acceptable physicality and mauling.



But after the Warriors’ 104-93 win over the Rockets to take a 2-1 series lead
— without Butler’s services, to boot — a retrospective lens on what brought a
bout the win shines a light on Curry’s brilliance, the much-needed support he w
as able to receive, and Kerr pushing the right buttons to make sure Curry and co
mpany thrived. The first decision Kerr made was perhaps the one that flew under
the radar — but arguably was just as impactful and contributory to their win.



Starting Quinten Post

啟用Quinten Post先發

With Butler sidelined, Kerr made the decision to start Jonathan Kuminga in his p
lace — a decision made to remedy the lack of a secondary scoring option behind
Curry. The controversial Kuminga has had his share of ups and downs, but never h
as the latter been more pronounced than it has been after Butler’s acquisition.
 Kuminga’s inability to coexist in an efficient manner with Butler has forced K
err to make the decision of benching Kuminga on a permanent basis.



However, Kerr decided to dust Kuminga off after Butler went down, which created
a ripple effect across the rest of the starting lineup. Kerr felt the need to ex
pand Kuminga’s room to operate, and therefore started Quinten Post at the five
to create room, at the expense of Moses Moody. That decision to start Post in fa
vor of offense came with risks on the other end — namely, Post potentially bein
g targeted by Jalen Green in pick-and-roll action, a talking point from the Rock
ets’ Game 2 victory.



In order to minimize Post from having to defend against Jalen in pick-and-roll s
ituations, Kerr shuffled Post away from defending Alperen Sengun toward “guardi
ng” Amen Thompson. Post was comfortable with sagging off of Thompson — a non-t
hreat from the perimeter and otherwise limited in his ability to self-create and
 make passing reads — in order to stay close to the rim and be in a position to
 contest drives and, more importantly, grab defensive boards.



https://i.imgur.com/XKK67ct.gif

In the event that the Rockets decided to bring Thompson up to screen for Jalen,
the Warriors were content with having Post defend, with the knowledge that Thomp
son is a far inferior screener than Sengun, which allowed Jalen’s defender to n
avigate screens and allow Post to stay in contain mode comfortably:

如果火箭選擇讓Thompson為Jalen設擋，勇士也能接受，因為Thompson的掩護能力遠不如Sen
gun，讓防守Jalen的球員能夠穿越掩護，Post則可以輕鬆維持守在籃下的姿態：

https://i.imgur.com/EYHPnHR.gif

In the possession above, having Thompson set the screen makes Jalen-centered bal
l-screen actions less effective than if Sengun was the one setting the screen. W
hen the Rockets do eventually default to Sengun as the screener, it isn’t Post
being involved in the action — rather, it’s the more capable Draymond Green:



https://i.imgur.com/1FgwAQ9.gif

But the Warriors also tried to uninvolve Post as much as possible, even if he wa
s guarding Thompson. When Fred VanVleet motions for Thompson to come up and scre
en for Jalen, watch how the Warriors take that option away:

不過，勇士也盡量避免讓Post參與防守，即便他防的是Thompson。當Fred VanVleet示意Tho
mpson上來為Jalen設掩護時，勇士是這樣化解這個局面的：

https://i.imgur.com/Wk5qUhH.gif

Post and Brandin Podziemski exchange assignments — Post taking VanVleet and Pod
ziemski taking Thompson — in a maneuver called “pre-switching,” resulting Pod
ziemski switching onto Green. Thus, Post is far removed from the action:



https://i.imgur.com/ZBHLdLd.gif

While Post wasn’t impactful with his scoring, he was able to slot into an arche
type more befitting of his 7-foot frame. He protected the rim, discouraged shots
, dared Thompson to put the ball down and create, and did manage to grab 12 rebo
unds — all of which translated to the Warriors winning Post’s minutes by a sev
en-point margin.



Curry’s impact, troubleshooting, and pairing with Gary Payton II

Curry的影響力、臨場修正，以及與Gary Payton II的搭配

In a vacuum, Curry’s brilliance is undeniable, with its impressive nature match
ed only by how impressively dependent the Warriors’ offense is and always has b
een on Curry’s ability to warp defenses to an unprecedented degree. Kerr made t
he decision to stretch Curry’s minutes to 41 — a decision made easier by Kerr
’s cumulative decisions over the course of the regular season that resulted in
Curry averaging 32.2 minutes in the regular season, which kept Curry as ready an
d fresh as possible for high-stakes playoff minutes.



Curry dropped 36 points on 67.9% True Shooting, to go along with 7 rebounds and
9 assists. Before Curry’s stretch of successful offense (in a game that needed
every bit of it, considering how the Warriors were limited to just 64.4 points s
cored per 100 possessions in the half court at halftime), the Rockets were havin
g success containing Curry-centered actions both on and off the ball.



An example of the latter: the Rockets switching a baseline out-of-bounds set tha
t had Curry set a screen for the inbounder, in which Curry’s defender and the i
nbounder’s defender simply switched.

舉個無球進攻被限制的例子：在一次底線發球戰術中，Curry為發球者設掩護，火箭選擇直
接將Curry的防守者與發球者的防守者互換，成功破解。

https://i.imgur.com/ZFftHsG.gif

In its most ideal form, the set aims to weaponize Curry as a screener in order t
o take advantage of one fundamental tenet: most defenders do not want to detach
off of Curry.

這個戰術設計的理想狀況，是將Curry作為掩護者武器化，利用一個基本原則：大多數防守
者都不願意輕易放掉Curry。

https://i.imgur.com/nOCNN9K.jpeg

Fast forward to much later in the game, where the Warriors run the same exact BL
OB (called “Rub”). Curry’s defender and the inbounder’s defender once again
prepare to switch, but instead of following through on his screen, Curry quickly
 comes off of Kevon Looney’s exit screen — catching Curry’s man off guard and
 unable to navigate over the screen on time:



https://i.imgur.com/ozAblC2.gif

Such micro-adjustments were lost in the shuffle of the overall picture, one that
 mostly consisted of Curry’s self-creation exploits and his playmaking for his
teammates, most of which came through his ability to draw two to the ball. Gary
Payton II was the notable beneficiary of such situations — although, to start,
it wasn’t as seamless as it was expected to be.



Curry and Payton were initially out of sync with their timing in ball-screen act
ions. Curry’s pass to Payton below was not ideal, with Payton holding the scree
n perhaps a beat too long:

起初，Curry與Payton在擋拆時機上的默契並不一致。下面這次Curry傳給Payton的球就不是
很理想，因為Payton可能在掩護的位置停留得太久了：

https://i.imgur.com/IMyEweA.gif

A problem with which the remedy was simple: Payton opting not to set the screen
and instead slipping the screen in order to take full advantage of a lane opened
 by two defenders jumping out toward Curry:

這個問題的解決方式很簡單：Payton乾脆不設掩護，而是「假掩護」（slip the screen）
，直接切入，充分利用兩名防守者夾擊Curry後留下的空檔。

https://i.imgur.com/07BWTzC.gif

https://i.imgur.com/XDY79YC.gif

To go along with the bigger-picture decisions made — one of which was Kerr opti
ng to close the game with Curry, Podziemski, Buddy Hield (17 points on 65.4% TS)
, Payton, and Draymond, a lineup that outscored the Rockets by seven points in j
ust under four minutes of game time — these micro-adjustments in terms of tacti
cs, lineup decisions, and matchups collectively made up what was a scintillating
 Game 3 victory. More importantly, it was one that put the Warriors in the drive
r’s seat without the need for their second-best driver.



--
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※ 作者: ccccccccccc 2025-04-28 13:41:45
※ 文章代碼(AID): #1e3nKR00 (G-S-WARRIORS)
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