The Dubs’ duo of Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala have been teammates for six seasons. In addition to a shared tenacity when playing defense and both having what players and coaches consider a high basketball IQ, they have a special connection on the offensive side of the ball: the lob.
What has become a regular sight in many Warriors games over the last few seasons, including Tuesday’s Game 2 win over the Houston Rockets, Green and Iguodala have found a knack for exposing defenses at the rim. Some how, some way, Green is able to find Iguodala around the baseline for a high percentage shot when needed.
When asked about the high frequency with which the two pull the play off, Iguodala made the it sound simple: “We usually have a two-on-one and I know where to be and he knows where to be, and we know how to connect.”
It may sound easy, but it goes deeper than that.
Though the two of them might not be the scoring threats like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant, the Warriors’ forwards have used this to their advantage. According to Iguodala: “Defenses try to exploit what they think is our weakness and that’d be leaving myself or Draymond open… [the lob is] turning what some would say is weakness into a strength.“
Head coach Steve Kerr detailed the play further and said it’s not just about the two of them, but how the rest of the Warriors set themselves up.
“With the amount of attention Steph gets, sometimes Draymond gets that ball in the pocket and… with Andre out there, with two shooters on the wings, it puts a lot of stress on the defense,” said Kerr. With the threat of the Splash Brothers around the perimeter, defenses have a tendency to come meet Green to take away the passes to the two shooters. This allows Iguodala to find his way down low unguarded. When Green sees Iguodala on the baseline, up goes the alley-oop.
It does help that, according to Kerr, “Draymond has great touch on that lob pass.”
This is not something they just came up with when the two joined forces on the Warriors in 2013. As Iguodala said, it is more so “something we’ve been able to build over the last couple years.”
The move has not gone unnoticed by the Warriors’ rivals though. Green noted that “the way people guard nowadays, we don’t get it as frequent as we used to maybe in like 2014, ’15.” But just because it is not as available as it was in years prior, doesn’t mean they will stop trying. “When [the lob] play is there, you got to take it,” said Green.
Kerr perhaps sums up Dub Nation’s feelings on the Green and Iguodala lob play best: “It's fun to see when they connect like that.”