2018 NBA Finals: Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers preview

2. Will the Warriors’ iso-heavy offense (*cough KD cough*) continue?

While Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are two of the game’s deadliest isolation scorers who can create good looks for themselves on any given play, the Warriors’ offense has been lethal for the last four years because of the new system Steve Kerr implemented, emphasizing ball and player movement.

That was reflected not only in the Dubs’ gargantuan, league-leading offensive rating of 112.3 during the regular season, but also by the fact that it’s barely dipped in these playoffs (110.0). However, in the conference finals, the Warriors fell into the trap of playing Houston’s iso-heavy game.

The Warriors averaged 322.7 passes per game during the regular season. In the conference finals, that number plummeted to 269.3 per game. The Dubs averaged 6.9 isolation possessions per game in the regular season. That number skyrocketed to 12.2 per game in the playoffs, and it was way higher against the Rockets.

Kevin Durant is the biggest culprit, with his isos catapulting from 3.6 per game in the regular season to 7.1 per game in the postseason. There’s a reason Steve Kerr literally had to pull out the John Paxson story in the middle of a playoff game to try and get his head on straight.

When the Warriors are moving, when Stephen Curry is controlling the offense and when the ball is zipping all over the court, the Dubs are simply unstoppable. There’s too much shooting with Curry, Klay and KD all on the floor, and since all three are capable of attacking closeouts, cutting, passing and off-ball movement make this team impossible to defend.

Against a Cavs defense that ranked 29th in defensive rating during the regular season and just seventh so far in the playoffs, the Dubs can’t devolve into whatever iso-heavy offense that was in the last round.

Turning to Curry or KD to bail them out on broken possessions has proven to work in the past, but it can’t be how the plays begin. Where Curry and Durant truly killed the Rockets in the second halves of Game 6 and Game 7 was when a healthy dose of ball movement was combined with elite shot-making whenever Houston’s defense held.

The Warriors have to make LeBron work on both ends, so if KD resorts to iso-ball from the jump, he’ll be making the Kings’ job miles easier on defense.