TORONTO -- The game plan was obvious -- take away Kawhi Leonard and make someone else beat you.
It worked for Steve Kerr’s Warriors in the Western Conference finals. They got creative with the way they defended Portland’s All-Star guard Damian Lillard. Instead of Lillard going off, Golden State was able to survive big games from others to come away with a sweep.
The Warriors used a version of the same thing Thursday against Toronto and to a certain degree, it worked.
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“They were in a coverage the other night I had never seen before, which was a switch to a late blitz,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said. “It was pretty interesting. I had never seen it before and it was innovative. They do a lot of innovative stuff.”
Creative game planning helped hold Leonard to a modest 23 points on 5-of-14 shooting over 43 minutes of action.
“I thought we did a decent job overall on Kawhi,” Warriors head Steve Kerr said. “He didn't have his best game. But, again, transition and other areas of our defensive game were really lacking and we have to clean up. We're under no illusion that we're going to stop Kawhi. We're just trying to make it as difficult as possible on him.”
With the Warriors focused on the star, he found a way to move the ball quickly and rely heavily on his teammates.
Golden State Warriors
“I come into the game just trying to win,” Kawhi Leonard said. “If I have my mindset on just trying to score the ball, yeah, it could be difficult. But I'm trying to make the right play out there, and obviously if there are two people on me, somebody is open. I could create a collapse situation.”
That someone else ended up being Pascal Siakam with a side helping of Marc Gasol and Fred VanVleet. The trio combined to score 67 of the Raptors' 118 points in their Game 1 victory.
“It's really not about me,” Leonard added. “If they play defense like that, guys are going to step up and make shots. All I could do is keep making the right play. When I do get a free look, make my shots and go back on other end and play defense. It's just not about me scoring or trying to get my offense off. It's a whole collective group out there playing basketball.”
Siakam was a game changer, knocking down 14-of-17 from the field on his way to a team-high 32 points. He made plenty of nice baskets, but he was also the beneficiary of some really poor transition defense from the Warriors.
“I think a team like this that pushes the ball relentlessly, it's not enough to just say, hey, guys, transition defense is important,” Kerr said. “I think you have to feel it, and we felt it the other night. They ran the ball right past us several times. As I said the other night, our transition defense was very poor and that has to improve.”
Draymond Green took a lot of the blame on himself for allowing Siakam to get loose, but his teammates deflected the issue back to the team and their inability to slow the Raptors on the break.
There is always a feeling out period early in a series, but Kerr is likely to stay the course and use a similar defensive tactic in Game 2 while hoping for a different result.
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Expect Kerr to make some minor tweaks, but not wholesale changes. He now has more tape on Leonard and the Raptors and will likely test a few variations of lineups and schemes.
Nurse and his squad will have a counter play. The team that’s able to make the best adjustments on the fly will likely take Game 2.