On the Warriors leaning on defense to prevent insult from being added to injury

With Steph Curry out, Dubs narrowly outscore the Raptors to eke out a win.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Steph Curry landed on what seemed to be his tailbone after making an emergency kick-out pass toward Jonathan Kuminga in the third quarter — a fall coaxed by the fact that Curry was bumped mid-air, a debatable non-call that will certainly renew debates about the whistle he commands from NBA officials. Regardless, he was quickly whisked to the locker room and promptly ruled out for the rest of the game, in what was an unexpectedly difficult matchup against the Toronto Raptors.

With drama levels steadily increasing — from suspense hanging over the air with regard to Curry’s status, to suspense generated by the peskiness of the Raptors — it was left to Jimmy Butler to shoulder the offensive load, supplemented by Draymond Green’s auxiliary skill set and a Golden State Warriors team that had been on a groove defensively ever since Butler first started playing for them. Based on their first half against the Raptors, however, one would think that fact to be a falsehood: giving up 119.6 points per 100 possessions to a team that scores, on average, 110.9 points per 100 possessions (25th in offensive efficiency).

While the Warriors were able to dish out 131.4 points per 100 possessions themselves during the first half, that was built largely on taking advantage of Curry being voraciously top-locked by the Raptors, denying him of touches and possession. Top-locking Curry often entails a reticence to switch off of him — which can weaponize Curry as a screener, both on the ball:

And off of it:

While also knowing the angles left unguarded by the defense as a result of their insistence to keep him away from the action, a knowledge base built on nearly a decade and a half of being guarded like the second coming of Jesus — or as the devil named Steph Curry, out of fear that he will rain fire and brimstone upon them:

When the Warriors needed everyone else to score, everyone else indeed scored — most notably, Green (who finished the game with 21 points), Brandin Podziemski (15 points), and Jonathan Kuminga (16 points). Butler tallied his second triple-double as a Warrior: 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists. But despite the scoring support, the Warriors found their well of offense drying up in the second half, during which they scored 96.2 points per 100 possessions. The Raptors did marginally better in that department, scoring 101.9 points per 100 possessions in the second half. If not for their offensive surge during the first half, the Warriors may have found themselves on the wrong end of another painful defeat.

That said, the Warriors edged the Raptors on a foundation of defense — a foundation they’ve been able to fall back on independent of Curry’s presence or absence (although his contributions on that end are by no means insignificant). Four defensive stops in the second half — one to end the third quarter, three during clutch period of the fourth quarter — were key in staving off the Raptors.

After possessions in which the Raptors were unforgivingly hunting Quinten Post in pick-and-rolls for Immanuel Quickley, Green and Post take it upon themselves to make sure that wouldn’t be the case below:

Post and Green “pre-switch” — changing defensive assignments before Post can be brought up to the pick-and-roll action. Instead of Post having to step up to defend Quickley and the roll man, it is this generation’s greatest defender, forcing a turnover and creating an opportunity for Buddy Hield on the other end:

Keeping with the theme of defense being their foundation despite offense being difficult to come by, Moses Moody — finishing the game with only four points and no field-goal makes out of five attempts — came up with a huge stop on Quickley:

While Green — missing a corner three — sprints like an NFL cornerback to intercept and deflect an outlet pass, preventing what would’ve otherwise been an easy layup or dunk:

But arguably the biggest stop of the night — preventing what would’ve been either a layup or a putback off of a missed layup — came on this possession:

Having to recover after springing a double on Scottie Barnes and successfully getting the ball out of his hands, Podziemski finds himself being blown by, with the last line of defense being Butler. Risking either of the aforementioned scenarios, Butler goes for the block — and before the ball can reach its highest point, Butler gets there to deflect the attempt.

The Warriors’ defense — uncharacteristically full of holes in the first half and making an otherwise inefficient offense look highly competent — rebounded when the team needed it the most. Depending on the prognosis of Curry’s current predicament, they may need to lean even more into their defensive identity, reestablished by the addition of Butler and one that has allowed 107.8 points per 100 possessions, making it the second stingiest unit in the league over that 19-game period.