How do Warriors have the best defense in the NBA? Inside its construction – The Athletic

End of the third quarter Jordan Poole dunk set Golden Empire Warriors turned 21 in Brooklyn. If there’s an early season to brag about, this is it. Stephen the curry was caught on the bench in bad trouble for a few minutes, but the non-Curry warriors opened the game with Kevin Durant and James Harden. Poole’s hammer is the punctuation mark in a win statement.

He didn’t celebrate for too long. Poole landed, roared in the direction of the crowd and then quickly turned and sprinted upstream, trying to catch up. DeAndre ‘Bembry, his man, who has already started possessing a few steps forward. Initial job well done. It was the kind of hustling transition the Warriors had demanded.

But defense is more than just effort and ability. Gray matter. You can try like hell and still make destructive mental errors. Poole did here. He finally caught up with Bembry in paint, as he was trying to walk around Euro Draymond Green for one layup. Bembry is a substitute with an average of 4.7 points per game. Green, as Kerr recently asserted, is “the best defensive player in the world”. Poole is best left to Green to put out a non-threatening fire. Instead, he accelerated and attacked Bembry from behind.