How trust allowed Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green to distrust the Mavericks’ offense

Dubs’ defense put the clamps on the Mavericks.

Time and score gave the perception of an inconsequential possession that happened with under 11 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, in a contest where the Golden State Warriors were manhandling the Dallas Mavericks to the tune of a 27-point lead. Familiarity breeds contempt, however — and those familiar with this iteration of the Warriors know better than to sit back, relax, and rest on their laurels. Past history hasn’t afforded them that luxury.

It was why, despite the seemingly foregone conclusion at hand, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green were still sent out to start the closing quarter. A nail still had to be hammered on an otherwise shut coffin; such a duo was deployed to make sure not a shred of possibility was left that it could be pried open. In five games and 261 possessions prior to this game, the Butler-Green duo has statistically proven to be up to such a task: outscoring opponents by 10.3 points per 100 possessions, with a humming offense (124.1 offensive rating) and a capable defense (113.8 defensive rating).

On paper, Butler and Green had the makings of a terrifying defensive pairing. Both are highly versatile and can wear multiple hats. They can defend at the point of attack and are able to switch up and down the positional spectrum. But both are arguably at their best when they roam like free safeties, pick off wantonly thrown passes, and act as the last line of defense as helpers. Their ability to shift from one role to another allows them to play off of each other naturally — and affords them the luxury of trust.

That level of trust was shown in the aforementioned possession in the fourth quarter. With Max Christie setting a dummy screen and slipping out before Quinten Post is brought up to involve him against Kyrie Irving, Post hard hedges against Klay Thompson, with Green also ramping up the aggression at the point of attack. Green has no qualms about helping Post with his aggression and allowing him to recover back toward his man.

A huge part of which is due to Butler’s positioning on the backline:

Green’s trust in Butler backing him up from the backline allows Butler to distrust that his assignment in the corner won’t be able to do anything to punish his decision to split the difference — and his subsequent decision to intercept the pass to Post’s man. The deflection gives Butler ample time to smother and commit to the matchup, with Post eventually switching out toward Butler’s man after a moment of indecision. Butler ultimately forces the miss.

Butler’s addition as another weak-side roamer is perhaps the most understated aspect of his six-game tenure so far — but it arguably has been the most impactful. Butler’s reputation as an individual defender precedes itself; it alone can provide plenty of impact. The Warriors have already reaped the benefits of said impact plenty of times:

But it has impacted Green’s ability to be a defender the most. Knowing Butler is almost always behind him ready to help his ability to help, Green can be more audacious as a roamer. When Kyrie Irving isolates against Brandin Podziemski, watch where Green positions himself — and pay attention to Butler behind him:

Ultimately, the stop garnered from the possession above is a team effort. But Green’s Butler-fueled audacity forces Irving to have to pass to a teammate. Butler makes sure that any semblance of an advantage is eliminated. Both of their efforts allow Steph Curry to capably split the difference on the weak side, close out toward the wing, and trust that someone behind him (Green) would cover the corner man left open.

Meanwhile, Curry — forced to defend a drive — is given help courtesy of Podziemski, the low man rotating from the weak side and vertically contesting the shot. Green’s audacity and trust has a trickle-down effect, in the form of Moses Moody covering Podziemski’s man in the corner:

Having two of the best defenders around engenders a culture of hard-nosed defense. Effort is infectious, while team-wide execution benefits greatly when an example is set from the top of the pecking order:

That example empowers an otherwise limited defender in Post to act as the one helping the helper on the weak side when both Butler and Green are directly involved in the on-ball action:

And it unlocks Podziemski’s best skill as a defender — knowing that Butler’s presence looms large by being inconspicuously impactful as the low man on the weak side:

A defensive unit is maximized, therefore, when the collective forces the opponent into an individualistic pickle. Isolated on an island of long arms, Irving desperately seeks a teammate to provide him relief. Crowded by length, Irving’s decision making is a beat slow; when the pass makes its way to Thompson at the top of the key, the extra second of hesitation allows Moody to close out, force Thompson to put the ball down, and allow Post to slide against the drive and contest the layup legally:

Irving’s task as the Mavs’ solitary on-ball creator is made tough by the fact that — at 6’2” — he is vertically challenged when making advanced reads, made even tougher whenever Green slides over to help on Irving drives. Butler as the man splitting the difference on the weak side adds an extra layer of difficulty, while allowing Moody to stay close to Thompson:

This setup ultimately ends in another moot offensive possession for Irving and the Mavs:

The Warriors have always been a risk-taking defensive team, rotating to stop the ball and trusting that everything else will fall in place (i.e., rotations would be good enough to plug gaps created by drives and paint touches). Those risk-taking adventures have historically been hamstrung by one or several problems: lack of proper execution, lack of proper personnel, or an unholy mixture of both. They are still largely risk takers on defense — but Butler’s presence gives them more license to take risks, simply because Butler is a player who is calculated in everything he does on the court.