Phoenix Suns Key to Beating Golden State Warriors: Force the Mid-Range
Mid-range shooting resembles the one hole within Golden State’s offense. Despite their second best 47.9 field goal percentage, the Warriors shoot the second worst at 8-16 feet away from the rim with a 31.1 percent mark.
In fact, the Warriors rank in the top five for shooting percentage in all other areas across the court, but own a bottom two spot here, which shows a glaring disparity and weakness that the Suns must attack.
With the analytics movement considered, if there is one shot to stray away from, it’s the mid-range, which makes this a fair sacrifice for Golden State. However, the Suns possess all the tools necessary to force the Warriors into this area where they struggle, potentially paving the way for a victory.
This more or less starts with Bridges, who embodies perhaps the game’s best wing defender right now with respect to the injured Kawhi Leonard. Better than anyone, he helps limit 3-point attempts by locking down the perimeter against opposing teams.
He and the Suns put that on great display vs the Nets the other night, holding them to a season-low 23 attempts from deep. Granted, Brooklyn loves the mid-range shot with maestros such as Kevin Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge aboard, but they also love the triple, and the Suns still shut that faction of their game down.
Phoenix also closed well inside, forcing Brooklyn to miss 12 shots around the rim, largely thanks to McGee and Ayton.
Having just shown off the ability to limit long range shooting and apply pressure inside, the Suns embody the ideal team to force Golden State into less desirable mid-range shots. They only need to recognize this strength contradicting this weakness for the Warriors, and move accordingly.