In the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs, a big reason why the Portland Trailblazers won is because of Damain Lillard, their superstar point guard. The Weber State product has hit a brick wall lately, and against the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, is struggling mightily. This is probably the biggest reason as to why the Warriors are up 3-0 with a chance to bring out the brooms tonight. While some of the blame can be out towards Dame's rib injury, the largest reason for Dame's struggle can be pointed towards the Warriors excellent defense, led by Draymond Green.
Against the Thunder in the first round, Dame had an easy time scoring. He often was matched up with small guards like Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder, and it was easy to blow by them. Also, on pick and rolls, the Thunder switched almost everything, creating lots of mismatches and more free points. Against Golden State, Dame is getting completely shutout. He is usually guarded by excellent perimeter defender Klay Thompson. If he gets by him, center/power forward Draymond Green smartly comes off of his man(usually Mo Harkless or Al-Farouq Aminu), and contests the shot. This is a big wrench thrown into Dame's usual game plan. Teams are not usually willing to completely ignore a man like Green does, but this method is incredibly effective, and might be a blueprint for how teams stop him next season. This lockdown defense is why Golden State has overcome two large deficits already,
Speaking of which, Green has been the sole reason as to why the Warriors are 4-0 without Kevin Durant this year in the playoffs. Given a much bigger role on both sides of the floor, Draymond has shown many more flashes of his pre-KD self. He frees up guards with vicious screens, makes excellent reads and passes to everyone, and as mentioned before, clamps down anyone an everyone on defense.
This brings us back to the question: Are we really sure that the Warriors aren't better without KD? The current lineup has been an absolute nightmare for the Blazers, and Golden State is playing a beautiful brand of basketball with lots of screens and off ball motion rather than just clear out and watch KD isolate. They also work much better together as everybody knows their role and place, and there is only one ball-dominant player in the lineup(Steph Curry). These are all valid arguments, but maybe the Warriors are playing so well because the Blazers are just under-matched. KD plays an extremely instrumental role for the organization and is key to their success.
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