(Written for Blue Man Hoop)

On a night when Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Jarrett Jack all struggled offensively, it was Denver’s dominant frontcourt play along with a stellar game from Andre Iguodala, not the Warriors’ offensive struggles that propelled the Nuggets to victory.  Reminiscent of the performances continually surrendered by the Warriors in the pre-Bogut era, the Kenneth Faried, Javale McGee, Kosta Koufos big rotation scored efficiently, protected the paint, and controlled nearly every rebound.

Here are three keys to prevent a repeat performance in Game 6:

Decrease Transition Leak Outs:

To decrease the production of the Denver big men, the Warriors should limit wing players’ attempts at leaking out in transition.  The Nuggets, Corey Brewer especially, are famous for sprinting up the court as or even before a shot is released.  The Warriors are generally not overly aggressive in transition, but would benefit if wing players, especially Harrison Barnes, more consistently crashed the boards, limiting offensive rebounding opportunities by the Denver big men.  Avoiding transition leak-outs would leave more players in position to defend a Denver big off a rebound without forcing the Warriors to surrender much offensively.

The Warriors benefit from transition opportunities, but not in the typical sense.  Rarely does Golden State attack the rim on a non-turnover generated fast break.  Instead, they take advantage of mismatches and a retreating defense in “semi-transition,” seeking open three-pointers and exposed driving lanes.  Often, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and other Warriors wings will run straight to the corner-three, not to the basket, in transition opportunities.

The Warriors exceeded defensive rebounding expectations through the first five games of the series, but would not want to repeat the Game 6 performance.

More aggressive roll man help:

Throughout the regular season, the Warriors relied on wing defenders to help down on rolling big men as much as any team in the league.  Likely looking to compensate for David Lee’s weak pick-and-roll defense, the Warriors’ defenders consistently “bumped” big man, then scrambled to recover to shooters.  As a product of this help, David Lee, a below-average defender, finished ninth in the league in pick-and-roll roll man defense, according to mysynergysports.com.  These commitments did not come without consequence, as the Warriors surrendered the three point attempts per game in the NBA, according to hoopdata.com.

Against the Denver Nuggets the reprimands for over-helping may not be as severe.  During the regular season, Denver, with an adjusted field goal percentage from beyond the arc of 51.1 percent, was the 24^th best three-point shooting team in the league.  By more aggressively helping onto rolling big men, the Warriors will be able to limit Denver’s bigs’ production, and allow the Warriors big men to hedge more aggressively on Ty Lawson.

Draw Fouls at the Rim:

The Warriors rarely get to the rim, averaging only 22.1 attempts at the rim per game, 29^th in the league, and draw fouls at a below average rate when they do.  The According to basketball-reference, the Warriors average .201 free-throw attempts per field goal attempt, below the league average of .204.  Stephen Curry, the Warriors primary ball handler, and Klay Thompson, another high usage player, both have incredibly low free throw rates.  However, drawing fouls on the Nuggets big men, especially the foul-prone Javale McGee, is the easiest way to limit their productivity.  Instead of focusing on finishing the shot, Curry, Thomson, and the rest of the Warriors should emphasize drawing contact.