Golden State Warriors: 3 takeaways from Game 5 vs. Rockets

3. Warriors playing Rockets’ game…

During the regular season, the Warriors ranked No. 5 in pace at 101.85 possessions per 48 minutes. A year earlier, that would have come off as slow to Mike D’Antoni (his Rockets were at 102.54 in 2016-17), but 2017-18 has been a different story. Houston was just No. 14 in pace (99.73), and dropped to No. 24 (98.31) after the All-Star Break.

The average pace of this series through five games is 97.97. In these last two Houston wins, it has been 95.31. Postseason basketball is generally slower, but the Warriors were averaging 101.82 possessions through two rounds.

This might seem insignificant, considering how close these numbers are. Pace certainly can be deceiving in a small sample size; a few outlier possessions can make a generally slow game look fast and vice versa. Less important than the number of possessions is the type of possessions.

D’Antoni’s Rockets are not slow just to be slow. They are slow because they deliberately hunt the perfect matchup on offense, and because they switch everything on defense. The Warriors also switch, but they bring help more aggressively at times. Offensively, Steve Kerr wants the Warriors to push the pace, a style almost certainly influenced by D’Antoni during their Phoenix Suns days.

Right now, both teams are playing D’Antoni’s way. Because of this, the games have fewer possessions (an advantage for the underdog), and Golden State is not getting types of easy buckets it thrives on. It is isolation, isolation, isolation — and that favors Houston.