TNT's Kenny Smith on the Warriors 3/29

What's this? A national TV personality offering useful insight on the Warriors? Perhaps...

Normally when the Warriors are on national TV, we all know someone's gonna screw up, whether it's mispronouncing a name, mixing up positions, or generally mailing in the evening with lip service about playoff futility.

Kenny "The Jet Smith", however, remarked (in essence)

The Warriors can run... The Warriors can score... The Warriors can play like the Suns...

...but only sometimes. The W's just hasn't yet learned how to impose this style of play on an opponent.

Wins  over Dallas (twice), Detroit (twice) and the Suns (tonight) proved that when its all clicking, it's all good. It pains me to say it, but thats only the beginning.

When the Suns came into the league, I dismissed them as a novelty. I laughed at Nash (and still do) as MVP, I mocked Amare as the Next Coming.

You know what though? You can't laugh and mock for three years- which is how long they've been able to run and gun.

Sure, they haven't won any rings yet, but the regular season success can't be ignored.

The Suns do exactly what Kenny Smith said: they impose their style of play on just about everyone.

If the Suns are doing some serious imposing,
the Warriors have to do better than sorta suggest half heartedly...hey, you wanna run? c'mon! run wiht us! Please? Pretty please! THAT is not gonna cut it.

What's missing? Well, let's look at how the Suns "impose their style" on other teams like Mr. Smith said.

1. Fouls. The Suns trade buckets for pace, rhythm, and lack of foul trouble. We hack, give up FT's, slow the game down, and are forced to sit our good players (biedrins, jackson, baron). Without fouls, the game speeds up, there are more possessions, the points rack up, and you end up playing Suns basketball
2. Spacing, Passing, Turnovers. We stand still, the Suns move. We make poor passes, the Suns make lots of good ones, especially in the paint. We have lazy ball handling, the Suns attack off the dribble from everywhere. Defenses don't want to switch or rotate. Mediocre teams rotate/switch once. Good teams rotate/switch twice. Great teams will rotate/switch as many times as it takes in a possession. The Suns force defenses to do it 3-4 times by moving and cutting and swinging the ball around endlessly, WITHOUT turning it over.
3. 3 Point Shooting. The Suns create good 3 point looks for good 3 point shooters (Arguably, the best collection of gunners). We sometimes create good looks for occasionally streaky shooters. The funny thing is, once the other team hits a few, you usually feel the need to answer back with some of your own. Trading 3 for 2 repeatedly has some sort of psychological effect on NBA players. The Suns take 3's and make 3's better than anyone, and when they do it all game, opponents get sucked into trying to match them...and fail at it usually.

1. FOULS
The Suns don't foul. This is a conscious decision by D'Antoni and the Suns. They will play defense, they will run at you, they will trap, they will switch, they will make you react quickly and often, but if push comes to shove...you can have the bucket.

Hey, why not? The Suns know that in the long run, they can put forth a bigger, longer offensive explosion than any other team can. Pace and rhythm matter, and they know that they are committed to and accustomed to a fast pace and high scores, so they'll let the opponent get a bucket or to.

The way I see it, it's like a crack dealer offering free samples. Sure the first bit is cool, you feel good, but after a while, you're hooked, and then it's all over in a barrage of 3's and backdoor layups and Amare jams.

The Warriors want to play the scramble defense, but whether its ego or stupidity or inexperience, they will make that ill-timed hack, that lazy reach-in, something to draw the whistle.

As a result, the game slows down, opponents set their halfcourt defense, the free throw disparaty grows, all rhythm and pace, even for a short time are gone, and then we lose.

Without a true backup to Biedrins (and a degree, S-Jax), the fouls have the double negative of robbing us of minutes from valuable players because they have to sit with foul trouble.

Foul less, even if it means giving up buckets.

2. SPACING AND PASSING
Baron is incredibly efficient (AST/TO wise usually), he'll make every pass and then some, and  dribbles like the ball is a part of his body.

Stephen Jackson has an excellent handle  and vision but occasionally gets careless dribbling and passing

J-Rich is much improved but will occassionally still take it into trouble without a plan.

Pretty much every one else, I wouldn't trust bringing the ball up the court. Ellis is way too lazy, he dribbles with his head down and passes without looking (Telegraphing sometimes even); Pietrus has the basketball IQ of an 8th grader; Barnes, for a vet, makes stupid mistakes, Harrington is good for a 4, but thats about it.

In contrast, Bell, Barbosa, Nash, Marion, Diaw, nearly all the Suns top guys can handle the ball and make the pass. Their spacing is top notch, they never stand around on offense.

Watch our fourth quarter execution and you'll notice we get stagnant VERY frequently. For some reason, Nelson lets Ellis bring the ball up in critical moments, and turnovers result. Players don't know where they should be in certain sets, leaving Baron or Nellie screaming at the team to get into position.

If you want to run and gun and play small ball, the ball has to hop around and players have to move. You can't give away possessions without even getting a shot off. If you're smaller than your opponent, you better be able to get by him, but we end up traveling or making weak passes.

It doesn't matter how much faster we are if we aren't moving...so get off your ass and cut to the basket or an open area. At worst, draw a defender away from ballside.

Those stupid mistakes must be cutout.

3. THREE POINT SHOOTING
You can do two things: shoot fewer 3's, or get better shooters.

Ellis should pull a Tony Parker and give up the 3.  Off the dribble at the elbow extended he's damn near perfect. From the arc, he's atrocious. Do the math.

Richardson and Jackson are incredibly hot and cold, but when they're cold, they keep shooting! Get into the block or attack off the dribble if u miss a 3. Taking 2, 3 jumpers in a row kills offensive flow, especially if they're from deep and lead to runouts for the other team.

Barnes and Pietrus are also streaky, but the problem is they can't do much else offensively. One reason why we're so reliant on the 3 is because these guys are ( or rather, were) our primary bench guys (Starters, for a long time even). Pietrus has stepped over that sideline more times than I can count, Barnes goes 1-on-3 in the paint. I expect the W's to let both guys walk this offseason and let Azubiuke and Powell, two guys who can do more offensively pick up the bench minutes.

Even Baron takes too many 3's, and we all know that. He's not shooting it well enough to shoot it this often.

When you bring Barbosa and Jones off the bench to complement Nash, Bell, and Marion, you're going to make a shitload of 3's...and they do. That feeds in turn extends the defense and helps their spacing and movement become even more deadly.

Nelson said he'd punish players that shot a 3 after 2 misses. This policy needs to be reinstated and drilled into our guys this offseason. We're not good enough to be this gung-ho from the arc.

I'm not against the 3, it's almost essential to shoot and make some with this style of play, or else other teams will pack in a zone and sit in the paint all day. 3's force defenses to extend, allowing more room to cut, and they punish teams that double team our myriad of post-up options. You can't them out, but you can use them more opportunistically.

Conclusion:
Kenny the Jet Smith is right this time. We can't impose our will on people yet because we aren't disciplined in this style of play. It seems like Nelliebell/Suns ball is just random offense, but it's not. There are specific things a team must work on to play lthis style.

The Suns have proven a team can win running up and down the court, and i do believe this core of Warriors players can win playing this style, but it's going to take at least the offseason of work to sort out the kinks.

It takes a total commitment to running to FORCE other teams to play this style of basketball.