On the Warriors falling into the trap of not trapping the box against the Lakers

At the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Brandin Podziemski found himself switched onto LeBron James after the Los Angeles Lakers ran one of their pet half-court sets (“Horns Chin”). Podziemski’s switch was prompted by the “chin” cut performed by his man (Gabe Vincent) off of James’ screen at the elbow. Draymond Green — James’ man — instructs Podziemski to switch onto James.

Seeing he has a much smaller man in front of him, James prepares to isolate against Podziemski for a potential drive to the rim. While this isn’t a matchup the Warriors would prefer for Podziemski, take note of his positioning, as well as Green’s — the low man from the weak side whose responsibility is to be the first line of help should James decide to power his way to the bucket:

A core philosophy of the Golden State Warriors’ defense is the “no-middle” approach — that is, prevent opponents from driving down the middle of the lane as much as possible.