Warriors’ sharp defense gets them a Game 1 win — but without Steph Curry, will it be sustainable?

Curry’s hamstring strain puts a damper on what was a win built on defense.

In eight playoff games, the Golden State Warriors have held their opponents to under 95 points a total of four times, all of which produced wins. That is of no coincidence, considering that defense has been their calling card ever since the arrival of Jimmy Butler to the Bay Area.

Opponents scored just 109.9 points per 100 possessions in 31 regular season games with Butler in the fold — the best defense over that period, per Cleaning The Glass, which eliminates garbage time/low-leverage minutes from their tracking data. Butler’s reputation as a versatile defensive wing who can guard the ball, roam off of it, and jump passing lanes certainly has lived up to the Warriors’ expectations — but it’s as if a culture shift was enacted upon his arrival. The tenacity of this squad has had a different air surrounding it, injected with a sense of pride over their ability to make it difficult for opponents to score, let alone prevent them from doing so altogether.

That sense of collective pride was on full display over their 99-88 Game 1 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, one that saw a majority of its course proceed without Steph Curry, who tweaked his hamstring in the second quarter and was ruled out of the rest of the game due to what was called as a “hamstring strain.” Despite Curry’s absence, the Warriors refused to falter, banking on their ability to stifle the Wolves’ half-court offense (and by being showered with a bit of luck from the variance gods, as the Wolves did manage to get open looks that weren’t falling for them).

That’s not to say the Warriors won this game with any semblance of coherence in terms of their own half-court offense. But what would be considered a half-court offensive rating that would be in the 16th percentile (83.5 points per 100 half-court possessions) was *just* enough to get them the required offense they needed without Curry, considering they held the Wolves to just 82.2 points per 100 half-court possessions (13th percentile), while also limiting the Wolves’ transition opportunities (11.7% of their possessions, 23rd percentile) and stopping the few ones the Wolves managed to garner (62.5 points per 100 transition plays, 4th percentile).

But it was in the half court where most of the Warriors’ defense did its work. To no one’s surprise, it was Draymond Green at front and center of that defense, anchoring it as he has been for a decade. Green was on one end of an intriguing matchup that played a huge part in this first contest and will play a huge part in the upcoming games: his ability to rotate, help, and protect the rim, against Anthony Edwards’ ability to drive and put tons of pressure at the rim.

As much as Edwards has improved as a passer and general “read maker,” it feels as if the best course of action when it comes to defending his drives is to force him to pass the ball instead of getting a shot up at the rim. Early on in Game 1, that was what the Warriors tried to do. Making Edwards spray the ball to the perimeter means he’s not scoring — but it also entails a high level of awareness and execution when it comes to rotating toward the pass, the next pass, and all the passes and drives that come after it.

But on the occasion that Edwards did manage to get to the rim with the intention of finishing, Green was largely there to meet him. Edwards’ athleticism and craft underneath the rim can sometimes make him a tricky puzzle to solve, but Green was up to the task.

Suffice to say, the Wolves haven’t given the Warriors any reason to change their coverages to a significant degree. Edwards found his rhythm during the late stages of the game, but otherwise, the Warriors were content with their initial coverages that ranged from “trapping the box” with Green against Edwards’ isolation drives and conservative drop coverage looks to keep themselves out of rotation.

While also being able to change coverages on the fly — sometimes, within the same possession.

The Edwards-Jaden McDaniels ball screen above turns into a switch, with Brandin Podziemski taking Edwards and Buddy Hield tracking McDaniels around the Rudy Gobert flare screen. Edwards and Gobert run two-man handoff action, with Green stepping up to a high drop — close to the level of the screen — to meet Edwards’ drive and force him to be a passer. From then on, it’s an exercise in staying home and closing out on the perimeter, with Curry able to recover to Mike Conley due to the floating skip pass by Edwards. Butler stays within Julius Randle’s orbit and contests his shot.

One wonders, however, when the other shoe will drop. It can be argued that it already did when Curry strained his hamstring — but it feels like a third, yet unseen shoe in the form of the Wolves’ making their shots will hammer down on the Warriors’ defense in the subsequent games.

Green having to show early help when Podziemski has to deal with Randle at the high post, coupled with Butler having to “sink” against Gobert in order to play the role of the one helping the helper, puts the defense in somewhat of a bind, especially when the ball finds its way to McDaniels in the corner, who attacks Butler’s close-out and finds an open Mike Conley on the left slot area. Hield closes out decently, but it’s a look Conley can and probably will make the next time around.

And while the Wolves were somewhat taken aback by Green being able to stay low — near the rim — and remain in a position to help stifle drives, you could see them attempting to problem solve their way out of such alignments.

Randle’s early drag screen for Edwards above forces Green to have to switch to Edwards — and thus, draws Green away from where he prefers to be, which is down low. Edwards’ drive puts the defense in rotation, with Jonathan Kuminga now in the role of the one “trapping the box.” The ball is skipped to the corner, and an extra swing pass toward the top finds an open Naz Reid, who won’t be missing those shots if he gets similar looks in the future.

Another solution the Wolves may have found to Green being the help defender: involving him directly in pick-and-roll action. Doing so forces Green to have to directly defend the ball, which defers the help responsibility to one or several of his teammates, none of which are as effective as he is when it comes to help defense.

The Wolves trying to move Green around and away from a position where he’s able to help without being directly involved up front is understandable, given how he was able to give Edwards fits above and also how he can act as the last line of defense in the Warriors’ “tandem” 2-3 zone alignments.

With the significant possibility that Curry will miss a game or two (... or three), the Warriors will have to hang their hat on covering all their bases on defense, squeezing just enough offense from the likes of Butler and Hield, and perhaps currying favor from the variance gods. The former two are more sustainable than the latter, and while it will be appreciated if fortune is on their side, they will be better off making their own luck.