Film room: Assigning responsibility for Mirotic's six 3-pointers vs Warriors on April 7

Share

The Warriors vanquished the Spurs on Tuesday night, which means it's officially time to start looking ahead to the Pelicans.

Remember when Golden State lost to New Orleans on April 7 at Oracle? (it feels like forever ago).

Well, Nikola Mirotic roasted the Warriors, scoring 28 points on 10-for-18 overall and 6-for-11 from deep.

After rewatching the game, one thing stood out -- it wasn't just one guy's fault for allowing Mirotic to go off.

Let's analyze the six 3-pointers Mirotic made:

1) About a minute into the game, the Warriors are getting back on defense after a missed shot. Draymond Green is matched up against Mirotic, but he doesn't have a sense of urgency to make sure he's pressed up against Mirotic on the catch. Draymond flies at the pump fake, and Mirotic takes one dribble before drilling the triple.

2) Kevon Looney is matched up against Mirotic in a half court set. Looney takes one step towards the paint to help on a diving Anthony Davis (he didn't really need to as Kevin Durant smartly dropped off of Rajon Rondo), so Mirotic pops out to the left wing and Looney is late to contest:

3) Draymond is guarding Mirotic but is forced to switch when he cuts backdoor. After standing around for a couple of seconds, Mirotic slowly relocates to the left wing and David West is a little slow to challenge (although this is one where you kind of just have to tip your cap...)

4) This one is on Draymond, who abandons Mirotic in an attempt to trap Rondo in the corner. Iguodala is forced to leave Darius Miller (another great shooter), but Mirotic has plenty of time and space to shoot over Iguodala's outstretched arm:

5) It starts with Rondo driving baseline past Quinn Cook and kicking it to the corner to E'Twaun Moore, who promptly swings it to Mirotic. Looney scrambles and flies past Mirotic, who calmly takes one dribble and has all day to line up his fifth triple of the game:

6) Draymond's lob attempt to Durant is intercepted and the Pelicans push the other way. Looney get sucked beneath the 3-point line and Mirotic cans it from deep to essentially end the game (live ball turnovers are deadly):

The Pelicans acquired Mirotic on Feb. 1, and he's making New Orleans' front office look great right now:

-First 25 games (6 starts) -- 12.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 30 percent from deep
-Last five regular season games (5 starts) -- 25.8 points, 12.0 rebounds, 46.5 percent from deep
-First round vs Blazers -- 18.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 46 percent from deep

The Warriors could go several directions when it comes to matching up against Anthony Davis and Mirotic.

Whichever route they choose... they will have their hands full.

Drew Shiller is the co-host of Warriors Outsiders. Follow him on Twitter @DrewShiller

Contact Us