After capitalizing on Golden State’s sloppiness and making a beeline to the charity stripe for most of the first half, Indiana’s offense once against fizzled down the stretch of Monday’s 102-100 close-run loss, producing only 16 points on 31 percent shooting over the game’s final frame, as what had previously been an elegantly orchestrated pick-and-roll ballet suddenly transformed into a game of collision avoidance with Draymond Green.
Though largely allergic, for good reason, to engaging the all-world defender in isolation or as part of a trap, the downside to maneuvering around his activity in pick-and-roll was still having to contend with him as a goalie.