While the Eastern Conference final between the Heat and the Celtics starts tonight, the Western Conference final will start tomorrow night. As a reminder, this will see the Warriors face off against the surprise team of these playoffs, namely the Mavericks.
On paper, with their advantage of the field and their experience, it is the “Dubs” who leave favorites, against the teammates of Luka Doncic. But according to Draymond Greenthey will have to focus on one aspect of the game in particular, to avoid being surprised by the heartthrobs of the Jazz and then (especially) of the Suns.
« We know we need to reduce our number of ball drops because these players are going to feed off of it. “, Estimates the Defender of the Year 2017, for this series. ” We need to fix that and it’s going to be very important for us, because it allows us to have good shooting positions and more shots close to the circle, but it also allows us to set up our defense. »
Already recipients of the 2nd largest total ball losses in the regular season (14.9), the Warriors do even worse in the playoffs, with 15.8 balls lost per game (the 4th largest total in the league). Above all, they concede an average of 18.1 points after their ball losses and 13.8 points on the counterattack.
« As soon as you play against a defense that is in place, it is much more complicated than when you play on the counter-attack », poursuit Draymond Green. « That’s what we offered in Memphis, a bit the same for Denver. They were able to leave and play on the counter-attack after our ball losses. »
Avoid feeding Luka Doncic and the Mavs game
When we know that, in these playoffs, Dallas scored an average of 17.2 points after losses of opposing balls (but “only” 8.6 points on the counterattack), we say to ourselves that Golden State has every interest in not offering such gifts to the Texas franchise. Especially with a genius creator like Luka Doncic.
« We really need to take more care of the ball, that will probably be key for us in attack “, repeats Draymond Green, who offers almost 3 balls per game to the opponent in the playoffs. ” I am confident that we can correct this problem. I’m the first target, I have to correct this myself. Same for the others, but it starts with me and I’m going to be better at it. »
In his podcast, the Warriors strong winger also took the opportunity to talk about one of the other keys to this conference final: the famous Luka Doncic. Radiant in these playoffs, and in his two previous campaigns in 2020 and 2021, the Slovenian superstar will obviously carry all the hopes of the Mavs on his shoulders.
« He’s an absolutely amazing talent. “Says Draymond Green, about the one who averaged almost 32 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists against the “Dubs” in the regular season. ” He can control the pace of the match, he can get all the shots he wants and he can involve his teammates. It’s been like that since he came to the league. He is amazing, absolutely amazing. »
| Draymond Green | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saison | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Fte | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2012-13 | GOS | 79 | 13 | 32.7 | 20.9 | 81.8 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 2.9 |
| 2013-14 | GOS | 82 | 22 | 40.7 | 33.3 | 66.7 | 1.1 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 6.2 |
| 2014-15 | GOS | 79 | 32 | 44.3 | 33.7 | 66.0 | 1.4 | 6.8 | 8.2 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 11.7 |
| 2015-16 | GOS | 81 | 35 | 49.0 | 38.8 | 69.6 | 1.7 | 7.8 | 9.5 | 7.4 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 1.4 | 14.0 |
| 2016-17 | GOS | 76 | 33 | 41.8 | 30.8 | 70.9 | 1.3 | 6.6 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 10.2 |
| 2017-18 | GOS | 70 | 33 | 45.4 | 30.1 | 77.5 | 1.1 | 6.6 | 7.6 | 7.3 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 1.3 | 11.0 |
| 2018-19 | GOS | 66 | 31 | 44.5 | 28.5 | 69.2 | 0.9 | 6.4 | 7.3 | 6.9 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 7.4 |
| 2019-20 | GOS | 43 | 28 | 38.9 | 27.9 | 75.9 | 0.5 | 5.7 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 8.0 |
| 2020-21 | GOS | 63 | 32 | 44.7 | 27.0 | 79.5 | 0.9 | 6.3 | 7.1 | 8.9 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 7.1 |
| 2021-22 | GOS | 46 | 29 | 52.5 | 29.6 | 65.9 | 1.0 | 6.3 | 7.3 | 7.0 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 3.0 | 1.1 | 7.5 |
| Total | 685 | 29 | 44.1 | 31.5 | 71.2 | 1.1 | 5.8 | 6.9 | 5.5 | 2.8 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 8.7 | |
