勇士复盘：波杰姆斯基防守谢泼德三分并非全错，火箭执行力更胜一筹

I owe Brandin Podziemski a correction. In our latest LGW Detail Recap of the Warriors’ 115-108 loss to Houston, I was pretty hard on Podz for what I thought were three (nearly consecutive) blown defensive assignments against Reed Sheppard in the fourth quarter.

Those threes were huge blow to the Warriors’ multiple comeback attempts in their eventual 125-118 loss:

Kevin Durant even said afterward, which I found out after I had posted the Detail Recap: “Reed was huge for us at the start of the fourth quarter and that’s what won the game for us,” thus confirming my assessment in that recap that the final nails in the coffin were set by Sheppard’s late shot-making:

But something didn’t sit right with me. Call it my basketball sixth sense. I just wasn’t comfortable blaming Podz for getting beaten by the same shooter three times. I had to go back to the tape.

And maybe our recent Myles Turner trade scenario, which had Podz added — as a sweetener for the Bucks — to Moses Moody and Kristaps Porzingis was subconsciously making me justify that trade by over-blowing BP’s mistakes, albeit they were at critical junctures against the Rockets.

Incidentally, there’s still more cap sheet work to do on those hypotheticals, but I’ll follow up on that in due time — certainly before December 15th:

By the way, I found Sheppard’s made threes using the NBA’s shot-event tracker, clicked through the plays to identify their game-clock times, then located all three on my DVR. I encourage all fans to utilize these freely available resources on NBA.com, although notably they did take away last year’s feature of watching each of those clips by merely clicking on the stat in any box score.

Here’s what I found [NOTE: All three game clips are available behind the paywall below]. On the first three, Podz doubles Amen Thompson as Amen makes a split cut past Georges Niang, leaving Sheppard wide open. I heavily criticized Podz for that in the recap.

The second three came off a monster pick by Alperen Sengun. Podz would’ve needed Draymond Green-level defensive acumen to navigate that wall and recover, so I can probably give BP a get-out-of-jail-free card on that one. Great screen by “Baby Jokic”, too (turned out, Festus Ezeli was right to give Sengun that nickname!).

But the third three changed my opinion of the first. Thompson cuts to the basket after a handoff back to Fred VanVleet. Sengun then screens for VanVleet and rolls, forcing Yaxel Lendeborg to momentarily help on Sengun. That frees Amen for an instant, which causes Podz to help on Amen, leaving Sheppard wide open on the left wing.

Sheppard hits the three, making it 99-91 with 6:59 remaining — this came immediately after Podziemski’s heroic four-point play against Bogdan Bogdanovic had cut Houston’s lead to five. You can see BP throw his hands up in frustration afterward.

I believe that’s due to one of two things: either 1) he’s exasperated that Lendeborg did not turn the corner defensively in time against Amen, forcing him to make that decision to leave Sheppard, or 2) the game plan instructed Podz to help on Amen whenever possible off-ball, and his ire is being directed towards the coaching staff sitting on the bench on the opposite side of the court.

Either way, it seems like that decision to leave the hot Sheppard wide-open wasn’t entirely BP’s fault. Now I see the first and third possessions differently. I suspect the Warriors’ coaching staff, perhaps Frank Vogel, made a calculated gamble: prioritize helping on Amen off the ball and live with Reed getting an outside shot.

Would you rather have Thompson or Sheppard beat you? Ten coaches out of ten would pick the latter, at least until Sheppard builds a reputation into not only a consistent big shot maker, but also a big-game winner — or maybe the next time the Warriors face the Rockets. But as of today? Send the double to Amen.

Was Podz following the game plan or gambling on his own? I can’t know for certain without asking the coaches, but after reviewing the footage, I no longer think it’s fair to simply call these three blown assignments.

On the third play, I’m not even convinced Yaxel could’ve recovered in time to prevent an alley-oop or entry pass to Amen, meaning BP may have done the right thing, with or without any Thompson game-planning from Vogel.

My conclusion? Houston beat us with superior execution and personnel. I actually did say this as well in the Detail Recap: losing to Houston right now is nothing to be ashamed of.

That’s because the Warriors actually came back twice before Sheppard shut down the third try. And Podz was the hero for about a minute, as his three and-one against Bogey actually pulled the Warriors to within five points before Sheppard delivered his final blow.

And let’s not forget, as I mentioned in the Detail Recap, the mop-up crew turned an 18-point deficit into a final score of 125-118 in the span of just a couple minutes. There is actually a lot of really good film for our squad without one Wardell Stephen Curry II.

And with that math, I am back to my No. 1 gripe: Steve Kerr should play Charles Bassey more to take a little bit of the modern NBA grind — the physicality of today’s big men and the frontcourt athleticism around the league — off of Draymond Green and Al Horford.

The Dubs lost to a very formidable Rockets team. Ime Udoka has Sengun setting enormous screen-and-rolls, Thompson creating gravity at the rim, VanVleet making the right reads and Sheppard punishing the defense from outside.

With the “Baby Jokic” in motion, including the freakish athleticism of Amen, that’s two — okay, maybe one-and-a-half — sources of gravity on the same possession, forcing Golden State into an almost impossible decision. The Warriors also lacked length and mobility on the wing, with Niang pressed into service while Gui Santos was still dealing with his knee.

Sometimes you simply get beaten by a better team.

I'll be livestreaming before tonight's San Antonio Spurs game (and Watch Party) to revisit these clips, correct my earlier analysis and clear the air.

And perhaps this is the best example yet of taking the LGW Way to another level of “Detail.” The first breakdown wasn’t enough. I needed to challenge my own conclusions. Just love the game too much to not take a second look.

That’s what basketball analysis should be about: understanding the game, not finding someone to blame.

For paid subscribers, I’ve included the three plays below so you can evaluate the footage yourself, along with our full postgame transcripts from Kerr (pregame snippets and postgame), De’Anthony Melton, Dray, Bassey, Will Richard and Podz (who was not asked about the Sheppard threes).

Here are the postgame videos: