That line is fucking insane.
And I'm not sure it does justice to how smart and dominant he was defensively. Sixers SBN blog Liberty Ballers summed it up well...
Saric’s only kryptonite this evening seemed to be Draymond Green, who put on a Defensive Player of the Year-type performance down the stretch. His defense single-handedly held the Sixers scoreless for over 5 minutes during the majority of the Warriors’ 19-2 spurt. He blew up pick and rolls by disturbing pocket passes; he allowed certain ball handlers a step past him, only to poke their handle free, he tallied 6 blocks, ripped down some soul-crushing-possession-ending rebounds that seemed destined for a Sixers’ arms; and he fouled Saric with 2.6 seconds remaining and the Warriors nursing a 3-point lead. It was an ingenious effort.
Golden State of Mind also had a great
"Explain One Play" piece on his performance. (NB: This whole series is a much read/watch for hoops junkies).
On top of snuffing an incandescent Saric, Dray also took a few turns on Okafor (who was having a surprisingly dominant game) and roofed him on a dunk at the rim on a key late possession. He also took it on himself to pick up full-court in the last few minutes, which didn't result in any backcourt turnovers that I recall, but I think totally spooked the Sixers' offense. He was everywhere like Savoir-Faire (obscure Klondike Kat reference for the Gen-Xers in the crowd).
The Warriors' post-KD-injury offensive swoon continues — ball movement has stagnated; turnovers remain an issue; Curry and Thompson continue to clang an inordinate number of good looks; and with KD on the shelf the lack of reliable scoring outside the Splash Bros is glaring. But their ability to tighten the screws defensively when they need to remains their ace in the hole. Theoretically, with all teams at full strength, the Spurs lack the offense to hang with the Warriors, and the Cavs/Rockets lack the defense to do so. But I'm definitely less confident saying that than I was before the Durant injury. They've looked surprisingly mortal without him. If he's not ready for Round One, I could definitely see Memphis or OKC or Denver making their lives extremely difficult. And if he's unavailable or a shell of himself throughout the playoffs, I think their chances of going all the way are pretty close to nil.
Two weeks in, KD's walking without a brace and getting up some shots in practice, so I'm guardedly optimistic he'll fit the typical 5-6 week recovery period for a grade 2 MCL strain, give or take. But fingers crossed. This is definitely not your 2014-16 Durant-less Warriors.
