The Warriors made a choice on defense. Here’s how Houston has made them pay

SAN FRANCISCO The Golden State Warriors have two main tasks before they play the Rockets in a decisive Competition on Sunday at the Toyota Center make more perimeter shots to crack Houston s zone defense and find a way to slow down guard Fred VanVleet The Warriors were poor in both areas in Challenge on Friday They made just -of- -point attempts and saw VanVleet torch them for points in a - loss to the Rockets in what might have been the final battle of the season at Chase Center VanVleet had nine points in a dominant fourth quarter giving Houston a chance to close out the series on its own floor and advance to the Western Conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves He s been a champion Been there done that Rockets coach Ime Udoka reported of VanVleet who led the Toronto Raptors past the Warriors in the NBA Finals So I wouldn t expect anything less than that from him Since going -for- on -point attempts in the first three games of the series VanVleet has come alive going -of- from beyond the arc Part of VanVleet s success is taking advantage of the Warriors strategy of concentrating more on slowing down Jalen Green While Golden State has all but erased Green since Event when he had points VanVleet alongside Alperen Sengun has picked up the slack presenting all kinds of issues for the Warriors We like VanVleet and Green on the court together for that reason Udoka noted They put one of the better defenders there Guys are really setting screens and our pace has been better So we re getting a lot more freedom Wearing them down a little bit The Warriors do what they do They have switched lineups quite a bit so far At times it feels like they are going for defensive lineups and then offensive and you can only have a little bit of both Fred s been aggressive picking on that and if they do adjust with Jalen he ll have specific freedom as well Still it s not just VanVleet While the Warriors had trouble finding a consistent third scorer Friday behind Steph Curry points and Jimmy Butler points the Rockets had four players with at least points Green had points on -of- shooting One thing about this company is we pride ourselves on our balance having different guys that can attack depending on how the defense reads us disclosed VanVleet who played his th career postseason championship on Friday So I ve just been trying to take advantage of the opportunities when they come my way and step up and make shots when it s in rhythm Obviously we know who we re playing but at the end of the day you ve just got to read the meeting the way that they re guarding and take what the defense gives The Warriors frustration with the Rockets zone defense was never clearer than during the fourth quarter when Golden State was an abysmal -for- on -point attempts Udoka disclosed communication has been key for the Rockets to take away time and space from the Warriors on any open shot attempts VanVleet mentioned not everything inevitably goes as planned Just attention to detail trying to find the shooters he declared We ve been experimenting with a few things in the zone and having a big on the back line and then just morphing and flying around Half the time we don t even know what the hell we re doing out there So I m sure it s hard to championship plan against But just flying around having effort being physical We know the guys that we want to limit their touches and their shots make it tough on them come up with a rebound Related Articles Warriors on verge of epic collapse after Challenge loss to Rockets Warriors Kerr offers touching words on Popovich s impact on NBA his life Gregg Popovich the NBA s all-time wins leader retires after seasons as San Antonio Spurs coach How to watch Warriors-Rockets Battle Four keys for the Warriors to win Challenge and eliminate the Rockets When certain teams try to use a zone defense against the Warriors it s usually a box-and-one set-up The Rockets have exposed something they like with the - zone and along with VanVleet responding at the other end of the court they have turned the series around and pushed the Warriors to the brink The thing with the zone is that there are windows to attack weak spots obviously Rockets forward Steven Adams disclosed We just managed to scramble and get to those spots and rotate pretty well so the window for shots we keep it very tight On top of that we do a good job rebounding and keeping them to one shot That s a key weakness with the zone Because usually you re out of place to rebound It s a weird zone It s just like a bizarre one but it works