TORONTO – With 6:41 to play in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Golden State Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala slammed home a fast-break dunk to pull the Dubs within eight points.
This came after Iguodala picked up Kawhi Leonard above the break and lured the Toronto Raptors star into a masked switch of a high pick-and-roll. Leonard looked to be trying to run it with Marc Gasol, but there turned out to be a delayed blitz of the action by Iguodala, which caused Leonard to fumble the ball off Warriors centre Kevon Looney’s foot and sent Iguodala off to the races.
This was but one defensive play the Warriors did Thursday to try to make life as miserable as possible for Leonard. They used traps and hard doubles that Raptors coach Nick Nurse confessed were brand new to him.
“They were in a coverage the other night I had never seen before, which was a switch to a late blitz,” said Nurse on Saturday after the Raptors practised. “It was pretty interesting. I had never seen it before and it was innovative. They do a lot of innovative stuff.”
Later adding: “There were several [cases] of [this coverage]. You just have to not get lulled into getting back into the open space. It’s like you think it’s a switch and not a blitz, and you start playing your switch offence, and then all of a sudden it turns into a blitz offence. So you have to leave your switch offence and go to your blitz offence.”
It proved to be a relatively effective defensive scheme for Steve Kerr and the Warriors – Nurse said the Raptors were “mediocre with it” – but it probably wouldn’t have been nearly as good if not for the work Iguodala put in against Leonard as the team’s first line of defence.
As such, the Warriors had to have been holding their collective breaths when Iguodala checked out of Game 1 with 1:19 to go in the fourth and didn’t return with an apparent leg injury.
“Any time he’s not playing it’s difficult. Period,” said Shaun Livingston on Saturday. Before the Warriors practised at Scotiabank Arena. “He’s one of our core guys and he does a lot out there that doesn’t reflect in the boxscore. But he’s a big part of our team, so every time he’s not out there it’s a loss.”
Thus, it must be a big relief to the Warriors that Iguodala announced Saturday that he will be playing Sunday.
“Yup,” Iguodala said when asked if he’s good to go, though not completely divulging if he’s absolutely at 100 per cent.
Regardless if Iguodala is at optimal health, however, the Warriors will need him in Game 2.
Despite the Game 1 loss, the Warriors executed the Leonard part of their defensive game plan to near perfection as he went 5-of-14 from the field and was forced to get the ball out of his hands with the aforementioned traps and doubles Golden State sent his way.
Iguodala is the defensive catalyst to help siphon Leonard into these extra bodies the Warriors want to send his way. And in Game 1, Iguodala was put on as the primary defender of Leonard in 41.2 per cent of the Raptors star’s offensive possessions (35 out of 85 total). And in that span, Iguodala managed to limit Leonard to just four points on 1-of-4 shooting and forced a turnover.
“He’s a special player and he’s shown what he’s capable of – been able to do damage from the perimeter, getting to the basket and shooting the ball at a high clip right now – so we always try to say, ‘Make the game as hard as possible,'” said Iguodala of the challenge he has in being Leonard’s primary stopper.
“You’re not gonna stop him, but you just try to make him expend as much energy as possible while he’s on the court.”
So far, Iguodala has managed to do that relatively effectively and, hurt or not, he’s going to be relied upon to do more of the same come Sunday and beyond as these Finals progress.
“It’s always difficult going up against top players,” Iguodala said. “You’ve gotta be locked in mentally, physically. It’s just part of the game, though. … If you’re injured or you’ve got pain you just play through it and just try to help the team win.”
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