So how did GS do it?

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Here's how they did it: they copied San Antonio. This is true both generally (the way they played all year) and specifically (San Antonio also went small last year against the Heat and reeled of a string of victories to get the title - they did it with Diaw instead of Green).

It's not like they'd NEVER played the lineup of Iggy-instead-of-Bogut before - I'm sure if you look up their lineups ranked by minutes together, that lineup was used a lot this year. But also, the reason they could bench Bogut is because the Cavs just couldn't shoot, so they could sag off the three point line and thus prevent drives, and thus didn't need a rim protector. If ANYbody other than LBJ had got hot, it might've hurt them.

(Interesting note: Iggy was MVP without being much of a shooter. He's sort of the odd man out for GS in that regard. But he turned out to be great under finals pressure and LIKE the others in that he was super-versatile.)
 
Rastapopoulos said:
(Interesting note: Iggy was MVP without being much of a shooter. He's sort of the odd man out for GS in that regard. But he turned out to be great under finals pressure and LIKE the others in that he was super-versatile.)
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They were leaving him open or guarding him with Mozgov. He was getting warm-up jumpers, which he hit enough of to bury the Cavs. Basically had no choice other than trying to play Steph and Klay straight up, which isn't exactly a winning strategy either.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
They did it because they had the MVP of the league. Sure LeBron is better, but none the less Curry is at least one of the best players in the league. One of the few who can consistently take over a game when needed. A player who demands so much attention that it allows everyone else on the team to excel. The dude is an amazing player to watch. They won because of him. He could not of done it alone, but the rest of the team could not have done it without him.

And yes they got lucky with injuries. But they still won 67 regular season games, so it was not all about luck. They have a good deep roster with a good young coach. But if Steph gets hurt next season they do not repeat. No doubt a deep roster and avoiding injuries to your stars are essential. (Steph only missed two games all year. )

But you have to have a closer, and Stephen is one of the best. We have a pretty good one too, so there is hope.
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Yup. Like I always said, just stack your team with all stars (or in this case the best players in the league) and you'll be competing for the championship.

That's usually all that matters. LeBron is the best player in the league and he's been in the finals what, 6 times in a row now?
 
Funny thing is, I think that the Warriors could return the same lineup next season and, with an injury or two, be in the lower tier of the West. The West is so close and so stacked, health becomes the main factor in who gets to the finals.
 
e_blazer said:
Funny thing is, I think that the Warriors could return the same lineup next season and, with an injury or two, be in the lower tier of the West. The West is so close and so stacked, health becomes the main factor in who gets to the finals.
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Its only a matter of time until teams figure out how to stop them effectively.
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
Its only a matter of time until teams figure out how to stop them effectively.
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This ALMOST always happens and is the reason most teams contention timeframe is so slim. And this is why the MJ Bulls were the greatest ever. No one could figure them out. They had to move on for someone else to win.
 
KingSpeed said:
In the final round, they benched Bogut who had apparently been key to their success all season, went small against a big Cleveland team, let themselves get out rebounded, and won the championship! With Draymond Green playing center! How did they do it? I'd like the experts here to explain it to me so that I can learn more about the game.

Also, as the Blazers build for next year, we should be excited to learn that you can win a championship one year after getting bounced in the first round without making any significant change to the roster. This GS team was pretty much the same roster that lost in the first round to the Clips.
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Just watch the Warriors help defense, the biggest reason they won was because help on Lebron can come much faster with someone like Green vs Bogut. Lebron had a much harder time getting his shot off vs Iguodala especially as he got help down low from Green. Bogut as a slow and large body is a good rim protector but he is also a massive target for Lebron to lean into an draw fouls.

The biggest change though was on the perimeter with everyone being fast GS was able to contest the three point line better and were able to generate a lot of open 3's offensively as Thompson and Mozgov could not effectively guard the perimeter.
 
Give the Dubs credit they pulled out 67 wins in a tough, beat up western conference.
I firmly believe the dubs had the best depth all season long. Which is why they won it all.

However I will say I don't believe they were the best team in the playoffs.
A fully healthy Cavs roster beats them. Especially if the Cavs go up 2-1.
A healthy Memphis Roster keeps them from getting to the Conference Finals.
Tony Allen + Conley completely dominated teams when healthy in the playoffs. It wasn't even funny.
I also would give the edge to the Spurs, because Kerr was a rookie head coach and pop would have beat him in a chess match.
Especially the way Leonard handled Curry once the Spurs were finally healthy.
But hey the Spurs had their chances to close out the Clips no excuses.
 
e_blazer said:
Funny thing is, I think that the Warriors could return the same lineup next season and, with an injury or two, be in the lower tier of the West.
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An underwhelming roster. Curry's a great skinny shooter enabled by the new rules, with a bunch of helpful little junior high dwarves. But Jerry West found some helpful mini-talent maids and butlers, I admit that.
 
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They did it with arguably the best player in the league, with arguably the best defensive player in the league and with arguably the deepest team in the league that stayed relatively injury free. heir 11th man was David Lee, while ours was who, Tim Frazier, maybe? They had an entire team totally buy in to defense, and had guys like Iggy, Green, Thompson, Festus to pull it off. They dominated points in the paint, and got to the FT line as well.

Also, this team probably gets swept by the Cavs with Irving and Love playing

As for being excited because they went from first round out to champions, they also made a major overhaul from last season to this. A new coach with an entirely different offense and defense scheme. A coach that learned to win both as a player in Chicago and SA, as well as an executive with SA.
 
KingSpeed said:
In the final round, they benched Bogut who had apparently been key to their success all season, went small against a big Cleveland team, let themselves get out rebounded, and won the championship! With Draymond Green playing center! How did they do it? I'd like the experts here to explain it to me so that I can learn more about the game.

Also, as the Blazers build for next year, we should be excited to learn that you can win a championship one year after getting bounced in the first round without making any significant change to the roster. This GS team was pretty much the same roster that lost in the first round to the Clips.
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Hey King, wasn't it you? Maybe Bones Jones, that said in one of these threads about how GS was basically the same team last year and got ousted in the first round and now they won, so Blazers can look at that as positive for us and next year?

Some great mentions of how they did it, but most of these reasons are on Steve Kerr. To me it looks like it was coaching. Coaching made the decision to bring Bogut off the bench and start Iggy. The coach was the major change in the offseason last year.

POP once said the hardest thing to do is throw out your game plan that worked all season because it isnt working in the finals.
To me it was ALL coaching.

With that said, is anyone now glaring at Olshey and Stotts?
He already has it per Olshey, but I think Stotts deserves one more year because of all the injuries, but he MUST learn to bench guys who aren't performing more. That and a better defensive, screen setting mentality
If we bring most everyone back and remain healthy and we dont get to the conference finals, I think its time to reevaluate our coach...as much as I like him and the turn around he has given us, his defense needs improvements.
( has there ever been such a thing as co-head coaches?)
Lets get Thibs as our Defensive head coach and keep Stotts as our offensive head coach.


Most of the time when you are close but players don't seem to be playing at optimal performance (Nico, Afflalo) IT usually isn't about replacing said player or finding a better piece, it can often be find another coach that knows the right things to motivate said player to reach optimal performance.

Again, with all this said I believe this team deserves another shot at staying healthy and going for it, before we do anything other than possibly mover Nico, and as muh as I would like to, there is nothing in return of equal or better value.

So we have gone full circle back to Mags who said so long ago... bring them all back and give them one more year.
To me, the only post about this that has mattered among the hundreds and hundreds of posts on what we can do. lol
 
Mediocre Man said:
They did it with arguably the best player in the league, with arguably the best defensive player in the league and with arguably the deepest team in the league that stayed relatively injury free. heir 11th man was David Lee, while ours was who, Tim Frazier, maybe? They had an entire team totally buy in to defense, and had guys like Iggy, Green, Thompson, Festus to pull it off. They dominated points in the paint, and got to the FT line as well.

Also, this team probably gets swept by the Cavs with Irving and Love playing

As for being excited because they went from first round out to champions, they also made a major overhaul from last season to this. A new coach with an entirely different offense and defense scheme. A coach that learned to win both as a player in Chicago and SA, as well as an executive with SA.
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This!!!!!! Thats it!!!! Thats what did it!!!! This last line is what explains the beginning of your post and is all truth!!! Does Curry break out this year as much as he did if he didnt have Kerr, a similiar player in his day, as his coach?
In on year, Kerr tossed his name into the list of great coaches... pretty crazy how a winning mentality from previous experience can trump those with the biggest drive and will to want to be a champion, but lack the experience of being there?

Isn't this really saying something about Kerr/Curry vs James/Blatt?

A great player cant change a team, but a great coach can.....
 
Orion Bailey said:
Hey King, wasn't it you? Maybe Bones Jones, that said in one of these threads about how GS was basically the same team last year and got ousted in the first round and now they won, so Blazers can look at that as positive for us and next year?
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I think this point is overblown or just flat out not correct. Now before I elaborate, there is no doubt that Kerr is lightyears ahead of Mark Jackson and he put guys in better positions to succeed. He was as important as anyone not named Steph Curry.

But the 2014-15 roster is definitely better than the 2013-14 one was. First off, their homegrown guys all improved noticeably from one season to the next. Sure, Kerr helped, but it was clear that Steph and Klay were much better finishing in the paint, Dray and Barnes improved their perimeter shooting and handles. Those guys are 26, 25, 25, and 23 years old (as of today), so even one year of development is fairly significant. Last season our backup PGs over the course of the season were Toney Douglas, Jordan Crawford, and Steve Blake. Only Blake is still playing in the league, and he won't be for much longer. Livingston is a MASSIVE upgrade. Speights was horrendous last year. His jumper was uncharacteristically bad all year and he came into the season out of shape. Festus didn't play at all due to injury. The bench overall was terrible and provided us nothing most nights. This season Barbosa and Lee couldn't even crack the regular rotation.

Blazers are similar to the W's of last year in that they have a very good starting 5, but no help beyond that. Like I said, they need to hit on a FA pickup or two and a draft pick to re-inforce that bench. Adding a Kaman/Blake ain't cutting it.
 
Run BJM said:
Last season our backup PGs over the course of the season were Toney Douglas, Jordan Crawford, and Steve Blake.
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Ding ding, the witch is dead! Best answer to the thread title's question.
 
King, if you would have lifted a finger, maybe we'd have won.
0/0/0/0/0

You know what that is? That's your stat line for the season buddy.
 
Run BJM said:
I think this point is overblown or just flat out not correct. Now before I elaborate, there is no doubt that Kerr is lightyears ahead of Mark Jackson and he put guys in better positions to succeed. He was as important as anyone not named Steph Curry.

But the 2014-15 roster is definitely better than the 2013-14 one was. First off, their homegrown guys all improved noticeably from one season to the next. Sure, Kerr helped, but it was clear that Steph and Klay were much better finishing in the paint, Dray and Barnes improved their perimeter shooting and handles. Those guys are 26, 25, 25, and 23 years old (as of today), so even one year of development is fairly significant. Last season our backup PGs over the course of the season were Toney Douglas, Jordan Crawford, and Steve Blake. Only Blake is still playing in the league, and he won't be for much longer. Livingston is a MASSIVE upgrade. Speights was horrendous last year. His jumper was uncharacteristically bad all year and he came into the season out of shape. Festus didn't play at all due to injury. The bench overall was terrible and provided us nothing most nights. This season Barbosa and Lee couldn't even crack the regular rotation.

Blazers are similar to the W's of last year in that they have a very good starting 5, but no help beyond that. Like I said, they need to hit on a FA pickup or two and a draft pick to re-inforce that bench. Adding a Kaman/Blake ain't cutting it.
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You just made my point right there. They didn't make lineup changes, they just improved. Much the same can happen to the Blazers.
They didn't trade key players, or half their lineup. They brought in a new coach and basically the same players played better than the year before.
Your saying that's overblown or flat out not correct?

Not sure what your getting at basically saying what I said?

We all agree we can have a better bench, even with CJ and Meyers playing well, but the key was GS didn't have a major revamping of the team in order to go from the first round to the championship in one year. Their only major change was the coach. How is that flat out wrong?
 
Kerr was a genius to bring in Alvin Gentry..thus the defensive improvement. The biggest X factor to me besides depth was health..Curry and Bogut haven't had great records at being injury free. Winning the top seed was really important to their path to the ring too
 
Orion Bailey said:
Cavs with no Irving and Love.




I think the numbers and most people also feel that the Cavs are not as good of a team with Love on the court?
Now Irving is valid.
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No most people know they are a deeper team with more weapons when Love is available.
 
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