Why was Draymond Green guarding Chris Paul?
A look into the defensive strategy of the Warriors on CP3 & how the Suns countered it.
Draymond Green has been guarding Chris Paul in the Warriors vs Suns matchups, perhaps a preview of the Western Conference Finals. This is not as crazy as it initially appeared or sounds - there are 2 primary reasons and advantages behind the strategy to have Draymond defending one of the best point guards in the NBA.
First, this allows Draymond off the ball to sag and clog driving lanes enticing Chris Paul to shoot spot-up 3's or attack closeouts - something that is not in Chris Paul's ideal attack.
Chris Paul is a midrange master - shooting 70% of all his shots from midrange & knocking down 55% of them - the best midrange percentage out of all point guards in the NBA (Cleaning the Glass).
CP3 Mid Range Pulls
Combine his midrange preference with only 11% of all his offense is from Spot Up attempts & let's be honest, a 36 year Chris Paul prefers using his IQ, experience and crafty skills to get to his spots and create for others.
The other reason is the Warriors’ ballscreen defense against the Chris Paul/DeAndre Ayton pick and roll combo - the strategy is to switch it so it eliminates any rotations from the Warriors perimeter defense and keeps length on CP3 and Draymond guarding Ayton.
Chris Paul is an Elite Isolation player and can take anybody on the ball into his Elbow torture chamber and absolutely destroy them, Ayton started to figure out in the playoffs last year that he could take advantage of smaller players against the Clippers but overall Ayton posting up is still a below-average offensive system if that is your hub.
CP3 Isolations
I included the full possessions below so we could see the context of why or how the Isolation transpired.
On offense, the Phoenix Suns have the 3rd best pick and roll offense in the NBA, and no other team uses the pick-and-roll in more creative ways than them. So if the Warriors can "bait" the Suns into running their offense through DeAndre Ayton post-ups and Chris Paul ISOs then they will have succeeded in limiting the strengths from one of the NBA's best pick and roll offensive systems.
This of course is an ideal world, to have Draymond wreak havoc off the ball in help defense, and when the Suns run a ballscreen to have Draymond switch it with Looney and take away their strengths but to reference one of my favorite leaders to study: the enemy gets a vote.
Combatting this defensive strategy the Suns went to a simple solution: double ball screens. The double ballscreen can be one of the hardest actions to guard if you do not prepare and communicate in the moment. The best defensive teams will typically switch the first ballscreen and then execute their normal defensive coverage on the second ballscreen.
The Warriors have the best defense in the NBA currently so of course, they will know how to defend every action thrown their way, almost to the detriment of their system.
In the first possession here we can see the Suns running a double ballscreen and the Warriors switch the first which means that Porter Jr is now the primary ballscreen defender. Draymond does a good job recognizing it and switches off-ball onto Ayton on the roll but this allows him to get deep position in the lane and finish easily.
Next possession the same action with a double ballscreen but since the screen is set high Draymond gets caught out and cannot recover back into the play so when CP3 snakes into the lane he gets to his pull-up game and finishes the mid-range jumper.
The Suns ran this same action and the Warriors switched the second screen - Ayton seals his man high for the easy finish.
The Warriors countered this double ballscreen action by hedging the first screen instead of switching so that the defensive strategy of Draymond and Looney in the pick and roll stays intact.
Draymond did not exclusively start on CP3, since when they go small he is the main rim protection so having him outside the lane or not directly in help would not be wise. Wiggins got the assignment on CP3, as well as Kuminga last game (big time from Kuminga!) when the Warriors were looking to close small and Wiggins out. The idea remains the same - keeping length on CP3 to make him work and then have those players be in help when off-ball and depending on score and situation to be able to defend the pullups with length or switch the screens.
The 3 games between these teams shed some light on how amazing a Western Conference Finals or any playoff series between these teams could be, and I cannot wait to watch that chess match unfold throughout the possible 7 games between the 2. Thank you so much for reading, supporting and sharing! I hope the holiday season is a great time for you and the people you care about!
Thanks,
Coach Pyper
Why was Draymond Green guarding Chris Paul?
Awesome post!! I really like how you highlighted Draymond Green's versatility as a defender. It really blows my mind that he can effectively defend guards on the perimeter, allowing the Warriors to switch in pick-and-roll situations.
Coach Pyper with the great breakdown