The Golden State Warriors feel a little shook heading back to Houston in the Western Conference Finals with the series tied 2-2. This after racing out to a 12-0 lead in Game 4 before failing in the final seconds to come back against a hungry Rockets team.
Now with the series back in Texas, the Warriors will look to take command again, as they did in Game 1 against the Rockets to start off the series.
Head coach Steve Kerr is singling out one aspect that will be the key tonight if the Warriors want to get it done. It has to do with moving the rock.
Steve Kerr tells me the Warriors magic number is 300 passes/game.
Against New Orleans they averaged 346 passes/game.
Against Houston they’re at 273 passes/game.
A drop of 73 passes/game. They’re iso heavy,searching for mismatches. I expect a change tonight— MarkJonesESPN (@MarkJonesESPN) May 24, 2018
The Warriors have been one of the best passing teams in the NBA ever since Kerr took over as head coach. That number vs. the Rockets is very low for them as they've resorted to way more isolation plays — nearly three times as many as the first two rounds — against Houston.
This is playing right into the Rockets' hands as they've controlled the tempo to their liking more than the Warriors would prefer.
And Kerr is right that moving the ball will be one of the key ingredients to ensuring the style of play shifts back to favoring the Warriors.
It will be interesting to see when the game starts tonight if better ball movement is evident from the Warriors as they look for the crucial Game 5 victory.
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