EN ROUTE FROM OAKLAND, CA TO DALLAS, TX TO OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — Against the freakishly athletic Oklahoma City Thunder, down 3-2, and facing elimination in perhaps the most hostile environment for a road NBA team, the Golden State Warriors will need to collectively play like Hickory High if they want to force a Game 7 back home.
No, not the Indiana Pacers, who sported Hickory jerseys as alternate unis this year:
George Hill reveals that the Pacers will wear the Hickory High jerseys… Awesome! #Hoosiers pic.twitter.com/5HXnTO6YGX
— Ken Bud Sothman (@KenSothman) July 21, 2015
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I mean those unathletic, system-running, fundamentals-touting Hoosiers from that all-time great basketball movie starring Gene Hackman as Coach Norman Dale.
You see, the OKC Thunder are like the planet’s best AAU team ever assembled. They’ve got the most explosive point guard ever to play the game, a big-time scorer who happens to be a mobile seven-footer, a power forward built like a Greek god, and two gigantic pillars for centers — one who dunks everything inside the restricted circle and the other his slightly more timid little brother who prefers to kill you with finesse around the rim.
They’ve got a “microwave” off the bench with a junk jumper that somehow wills shots into the basket, and finally a long, lanky small forward who fills in all blanks, never complains, and is just happy to be on the team.
Screw IQ. If you’re looking for the most insane collection of talent, size and hops possible, and it currently resides in Oklahoma City.
Yet this team is the most engaged, focused group you’ve ever seen. So dominant, the lack of a system and patience is an afterthought. Throw your clipboard out the window because this team is just so naturally physically and instinctively gifted.
“That’s how we play, like it or not,” said Kevin Durant at his postgame press conference after Game 5.
How do you beat a team like that?
Well, as Coach Dale would preach: four passes.
“Move the ball,” said Stephen Curry at his press conference after the Game 4 victory. “Create confusion because they do switch so much.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_lnX6meqww&w=560&h=315]Like how the fictional Hickory High did in the Indiana state championship in 1952, the Warriors would need to control their offense and wear down their more athletic counterparts.
“We’re finding different layers of how to get that ball moving. You can swing it two or three — you could swing it four times — in each possession,” the Warriors cerebral veteran small forward Andre Iguodala told reporters in the locker room after Game 4. “We still won’t have a panic about us before we get a good look, so we can make the defense work. It also helps you get back in transition defense.”
I’ve seen you guys can shoot but there’s more to the game than shooting. There’s fundamentals and defense. — Coach Norman Dale in the movie Hoosiers
Granted, Golden State has a not-so-secret nuclear weapon in Curry, but OKC has kept him relatively at bay so far.
“We have a very athletic, long group and a potent team that’s trying to make life miserable for him, so we can’t have Steph running around trying to do too much,” said Iguodala, pointing specifically towards the Warriors’ bench unit drawing fouls so that when Curry returns to the game, he can take advantage of the Thunder being in the penalty.
The Warriors committed fifteen turnovers in Game 4, six of them in the third quarter when OKC halved an eight-point deficit into an 81-77 nailbiter heading into the final frame.
That’s one more than Golden State head coach Steve Kerr’s desired benchmark of fourteen, but in enemy territory, they’ll be better-served to keep that number in the single-digits, if the Warriors hope to send the series back to Oakland.
“So we go to fundamentals against a team like this and we have to jump at the jump stops, reverse pivots,” said Iguoda. “Can’t throw the ball over the long arms. You’ve got to get your feet set, throw a pump fake, kind of those boring things you had to do at camp, but they’re key for us.”
It’s back to the core principles for these heretofore dashing Warriors. No more sling passes, no more behind-the-back razzle dazzle. There’s too much at stake here and any mishap can ignite Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Yet there’s still that magic Curry dust. He just needs to walk a fine line. A very fine line. Or shall we say, dance a very fine line?
“The ones that’ll get you in trouble is when you iso and do eight dribbles and change direction and try to still search for that three,” said Curry. “That’s the one that’s tempting and you kind of have to feel the moment, whether you take them or not.”
The Warriors have practically shed their record-breaking regular season “darlings of the NBA” image, when flamboyance was such a huge ingredient. Save for nine times out of eighty-two, they got away with cross-court sling passes, step-back crossover three-pointers, and off-balance, off-target “Splash Brother” heaves from downtown that were rescued by a tap-out to the other Splash Brother for the inevitable fireball. No one could do anything about them.
Now, it’s as if karma has finally made its way back again, and the powers that be are demanding that the MVP re-establish his foundations by re-applying for the “license to splash” with demonstrations of poise, skill, ball-sharing, ball-protection and teamwork.
“The basketball gods are what makes you want to play a certain way that fits you,” said Iguodala. “Things seem to work in our favor when we do.”
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