Golden State Warriors balanced offense is pretty tough to stop, says Draymond Green
Wednesday 1 May 2019 11:25, UK
The balanced offense provided by the 'Hamptons Five' starting line-up makes the Golden State Warriors "pretty tough to stop", says Draymond Green.
As he had done in their series-opening win over the Houston Rockets, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr deployed Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala - known collectively as the 'Hamptons Five' after the latter four players travelled to the Hamptons, New York, to convince Durant to join Golden State via free agency in July 2016 - from the start of Game 2.
All five players finished the game with double-digit points totals, led by Durant with 29, as the Warriors rolled to a 115-109 win that extended their lead in the Western Conference semi-final playoff series to 2-0.
NBA defenses are familiar with the 'Hamptons Five' closing games for the Warriors, but Golden State forward Draymond Green feels the line-up is perfect from the start against the Rockets.
"For this particular series, that is our best line-up." he said. "When we needed Kevin to get buckets, he did that. When we needed Steph to control the offense, he did that. Klay got going. Andre started off the game, I think he had the first six points.
"When it is one guy or two guys scoring, it allows a defense to key on those guys. But when [our offense] is balanced like it was tonight, we're pretty tough to stop."
That was apparent after the 'Hamptons' line-up re-entered the game midway through the fourth quarter after the Rockets has pulled to within three points. Curry drained a three-pointer. Thompson snagged a defensive rebound. Green got open for a dunk and Durant hit a pair of mid-range jumpers. All the while Iguodala locked down the opposition on defense.
The Warriors' lead returned to double digits and the win was sealed.
After the Game 2 victory, Kerr praised the contributions of Durant, who led the Warriors in scoring for the fifth successive game, and the veteran Iguodala.
"He's Kevin, we know he's going to score. But he does so much more to impact the game - the blocked shots, the rebounds, the assists," said Kerr.
"What makes Andre special is when you combine that athleticism with that brain, you've got a hell of a player."
After the fractious aftermath to the Warriors' Game 1 victory and the ensuing debate over how the referees had assessed fouls, Durant and Green were quick to praise the manner in which Game 2 was officiated.
"Tonight I think it was a great officiated game," Green said. "They let us be physical, both teams, and they made the calls they needed to make.
"It was kind of disheartening for a game that I love since I was a child to see the talk over the last two days was nothing about basketball and everything about foul calls. Is that what this game is coming to?"
"I felt like both teams, both coaches, just let the refs do their jobs all night," Durant said. "I think the refs did an amazing job, the players did a great job, and the coaches."
Game 3 takes place in Houston in the early hours of Sunday morning (1:30am) live on Sky Sports Arena.
