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Golden State Warriors: 5 Keys For Game 6 vs. Cavaliers

By Gerald Bourguet

Jun 10, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) look on from the court during the fourth quarter in game four of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena. The Warriors won 108-97. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 10, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) look on from the court during the fourth quarter in game four of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena. The Warriors won 108-97. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Golden State Warriors
Jun 13, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) shoots the ball during the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game five of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Capitalize On Open Looks

It wouldn’t be a matter of opinion to say the Golden State Warriors were the best three-point shooting team this year; it’s pure, unadulterated fact. Not only did they shatter the NBA regular season record for made three-pointers with 1,078, but the Splash Brothers alone (678) combined for more threes than 13 NBA teams (and were tied with team No. 14).

Considering the Dubs did all this while converting at a league-high 41.6 percent clip, it’s no surprise to find out that — even with the Splash Brothers’ uncanny ability to make shots that would be “ill-advised” for anyone else — many of the Warriors’ three-point attempts were open looks.

During the regular season, a staggering 80.2 percent of Golden State’s three-point attempts were what NBA.com classifies as “open” (nearest defender 4-6 feet away) or “wide open” (6+ feet way). The Warriors converted a whopping 42.8 percent of these looks that we’ll refer to as “uncontested.”

In the 17 playoff games leading up to the Finals, 80 percent of the Dubs’ three-pointers were uncontested, but the efficiency on those high percentage shots slightly dipped to 40.9 percent.

Through five Finals games, 79.5 percent of Golden State’s three-pointers have been uncontested. Unfortunately for the Warriors, they’ve only managed to convert 37.5 percent of these quality looks. I repeat: THE BEST THREE-POINT SHOOTING TEAM IN NBA HISTORY IS ONLY MAKING 37.5 PERCENT OF ITS COMPLETELY UNCONTESTED LOOKS.

With Curry and Thompson getting off to a rough start in the series, perhaps that won’t be such a big surprise to some people. But even in Game 5 when the Splash Brothers unleashed a barrage of threes in the second quarter, the well ran completely dry in the second half.

The Dubs have made just 34.2 percent of their “wide open” threes in this series, nearly a 10 percent drop from the 43.8 percent they converted during the regular season. In Game 6, those wide open shots need to start falling again.

Next: No. 2

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