On their quest to return to the NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors ran up against a singular ball handler hell-bent on personally stretching their defense to the breaking point.
That virtuoso put the Warriors into 60 high ball screens per 100 possessions in an attempt to attack the vulnerabilities of the scheme and pick on individual defenders he deemed targets, like Stephen Curry. Sixty is a lot, a basketball game's version of a pop song chorus that will plant itself in your consciousness and never leave. But that's the thing about most dominant NBA stars -- once they find a formula that works, they'll exploit it to monotonous effect.
That was the scene in May 2018 when the Warriors encountered James Harden and the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference finals. Harden, the NBA's best off-speed pitcher, bludgeoned opponents with his deliberate pick-and-roll game in Mike D'Antoni's spread offense. Against the Warriors' switch-heavy defensive scheme, Harden would order his preferred defensive matchup off the menu by calling for a high screen from that defender's man, then go to work.
"It brings back memories," Kerr said early in the Dallas Mavericks series. "Luka [Doncic] and James [Harden] exert similar pressure on each possession."
So it's no coincidence that as the Warriors' brain trust examines its current trials against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, it evokes memories of their 2018 meeting against Harden and Houston. Doncic saw Harden's 60 pick-and-rolls per 100 possessions against Golden State and raised him to 62. The Warriors knew this was coming -- and adjusted accordingly.