Going into their marquee matchup with the Golden State Warriors, the Brooklyn Nets had a half-court offensive rating of 101.2, which led the league. The number two team behind them? The Warriors, with their half-court offensive rating of 100.6.
On paper, this was expected to be a battle of two offensive juggernauts, whose philosophies in terms of how they generate advantages occupy opposite ends of the spectrum.
The Warriors rely heavily on ball and personnel movement, creating advantages through putting teams in rotation, using Stephen Curry’s otherworldly pull to draw traps and generating 4-on-3 situations, and countering overplays and top-locks through cuts and slips.