The 2018 NBA Playoffs kicked off with San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors in a stylistic clash between a former dynasty and a budding-but-dominant one. Even with each team missing their most impactful player, two smart, selfless, well-coached teams duking it out made for an interesting series…in theory.
The Warriors landed the first blow, dismantling the Spurs 113-92 in a game that wasn't that close. The stars came to play; Kevin Durant (24-8-7-2) controlled the game from the opening tip, Klay Thompson (27 points on 11-of-13 shooting) couldn't miss if he wanted to, and Draymond Green (12-8-11-2-1) was locked in on both ends of the floor.
One unlikely contributor for the Warriors was center JaVale McGee. He got the start in Game 1 and made his presence felt early on both ends. He energized the Warriors with every finger-roll, dunk, and blocked shot. The Shaqtin'-a-Fool legend finished with 14 points, five rebounds, two blocks, and was a plus-16 on the night. Let's take a deeper look at how McGee impacted Game 1.
OFFENSE
McGee has exactly three jobs on the offensive end: set hard screens, bust your tail rolling to the basket, and finish at the rim if you get the pass. He's always been ideal for the rim-runner role. He's tall with freakishly long arms, moves well, and can leap tall buildings with a single … wait, no, that's someone else.
Anyway, McGee's athleticism gives the Warriors a different dynamic from the near-illegal screening and nifty passing of Zaza Pachulia, or the old-man mid-range game of David West. Without Stephen Curry to bend defenses, the Warriors relied on McGee to create vertical spacing, especially with San Antonio's decision to downsize.
San Antonio played pick-and-rolls featuring McGee aggressively. Instead of going to their usual 2-on-2 defense, they hedged on or trapped the ball-handler, practically daring McGee to beat them on the short-roll. San Antonio lost that bet pretty handily; having their big hedge left McGee finishing over a small.
Below, watch how the Spurs try to disrupt this pick-and-roll involving Kevin Durant and McGee. McGee sets the screen at an angle, forcing Kyle Anderson to fight over the top. That makes LaMarcus Aldridge drop to contain the Durant drive. McGee shifts from screener to roller quickly; Durant fits the pocket-pass in beautifully, and McGee gets the easy bucket over Danny Green.
A little later in the quarter, the Warriors went back to the Durant-McGee pick-and-roll. San Antonio defends it the same way, with Aldridge hedging out as Anderson tries to recover after the angled screen from McGee. Anderson does a great job timing out the pocket pass from Durant and tips it, but McGee is able to corral it, dribble, gather, and finish with the jelly over Green again.
McGee generated 1.6 points per pick-and-roll possession on Saturday. That's up from his 1.412 PPP mark (95th percentile) in the regular season. As long as San Antonio keeps hedging — and they probably should because letting Durant get to the rim or walk into mid-range jimmies is an awful alternative — there's room for McGee to eat in this series.
DEFENSE
McGee has been a mixed bag defensively throughout his career. The tools that have made him a dangerous rim-runner also made him, in theory, a scary interior defender. He's always had great instincts as a shot-blocker. His leaping ability and length has allowed him to block shots that mere mortals could only dream of contesting, much less swatting away.
The issue has been McGee's awareness and decision making. He's been prone to block-hunting, opting to chase the swat instead of playing within a defensive scheme. Teams have abused him in space because he overreacts to head fakes, then that snowballs into fouls due to him overcorrecting himself.
Luckily for the Warriors, McGee was under control on Saturday. He had the unenviable task of guarding Aldridge, one of the best scoring bigs in the NBA. In addition to being a tough post cover, Aldridge's love of the mid-range jumper, particular in pick-and-pops, was a tough matchup for McGee. Sure enough, Aldridge got going early with a pair of jimmies in the 17-2o feet range. You live with those shots if you're Golden State, and McGee didn't do a poor job of defending the looks anyway.
McGee's defensive work in the post was worthy of a gold star. He was able to hold Aldridge to 0-of-5 shooting on post-ups when the two were matched up. He didn't allow Aldridge to establish deep positioning often, and bothered Aldridge with his length for most of the night.
Below, McGee finds himself jostling with Aldridge on the left block. As Aldridge makes his move to the middle, McGee does a great job of bodying him up, then contesting the shot without fouling:
Here, McGee starts off by fronting the post on the left block. The ball makes its way to Aldridge, but McGee holds his ground as the bump-and-grind sequence begins. Aldridge turns baseline and attempts to get McGee to bite on a fake. Knowing McGee's history, that was a safe bet to make. Unfortunately for him, McGee is ready and disciplined, waiting for the shot to go up. As soon as it does, McGee swats it away:
Again, McGee makes things tough by getting a little physical on the move, then contesting the shot without fouling:
Game 1 was another example of what McGee has flashed at random points of his career. He can be a devastating interior defender when he's dialed in. The hope for the Warriors is he keeps this up instead of falling prey to another bout of inconsistency.
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