Even if he will never reach his dad's level, Gary Payton II is a renowned defender in the NBA, and last night he took care of one of the best forwards in the league, Anthony Edwards. Two days ago, the Wolves superstar scored 11 of his 30 points in the final quarter. Last night, he lost two balls, and scored an ugly 1 out of 7 in the last 12 minutes. He was 9 of 12 on shots after three quarters.
“Ant is an incredible player and by the end of the third quarter he was rolling. At that point, just put your best defender on him.” explains Steve Kerr. “We don't really want to play the two-man shot because there are other guys making shots… We just wanted Gary to stick to him, help him in the intervals, try to do difficult things without taking a partner”.
There were 10 minutes left to play when Anthony Edwards came back into play, and in the process, Steve Kerr put Gary Payton II back on the floor.
“It’s probably more difficult than Friday evening,” believes the Warriors guard. “A guy like him, you can’t let him get comfortable early on. I try to disrupt him and make him work earlier in the match. I try to continue to exhaust it, and exhaust it again…”
A decisive interception
A real undermining job which ended up paying off since the Warriors won, and it was on a ball stolen by Gary Payton II that Buddy Hield knocked out the Wolves. The son of the “Glove” set the tone for this last quarter since Golden State only conceded 16 points and the Wolves only scored 6 out of 21 shots.
“Gary!” » answers Steve Kerr when asked what was the key to this 4th quarter. “But also the help behind him. Draymond and JK also have some nice actions near the rim. Draymond's assist allowed Gary to keep the pressure on Edwards, and he felt confident knowing Draymond had his back. Gary was just brilliant tonight! »
Same praise from Stephen Curry: “He just found a solution… And then there's the last five minutes… He was good all game, but he gave Anthony Edwards hell in the last five minutes. And it’s all him.”
