Eight long years ago in this same playoff round, en route to their first title of this dynastic run, the Golden State Warriors pushed the edges of NBA defense by deciding to totally ignore Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen.
They didn't merely abandon Allen -- forcing the Grizzlies to almost play offense 4-on-5. They inverted positions by assigning their center, Andrew Bogut, as Allen's nominal defender -- and asking Bogut to hang near the paint regardless of where Allen was.
Defenses had long sagged from below-average perimeter shooters. But the league's revamped illegal defense rules had given individual defenders more freedom.