Steph Curry may be unstoppable but is there another way to defend him

[FAH1223]

If you're going to throw Steph off, the best thing is to get physical with him like Waiters and them did.

Stick on him and make him give up the ball. It's tough but you gotta fight through those screens.

Westbrook when in the right of frame of mind was able to do that by himself as well and cause turnovers.

Turnovers is how GSW will lose games.

 

[FTBS]

he's def not unstoppable
he was shyt the first 4 games of the series

And that was more so about him just being off than anything the defense was doing. He was missing wide open looks in game 4. Game 6 and 7 he was hitting shots from 30 with 7 footers in his face.

 

[Tha_Mac]

@Tha_Mac

The Heat beat the Spurs in 7 games in 2013, yes. But they also let Danny Green break an NBA Finals record for 3s.

In 2014, the Spurs were a better team and had even more shooters. Diaw was hitting 3s as a stretch 4, Patty Mills was in shape, Ginobili wasn't turning it over like a mad man.

The weaknesses from 2013 were magnified even greater.

Golden State has more than enough shooting and cutting to the basket players to counter a blitz trapping scheme. And they have multiple ball handlers like the Spurs have.

Barnes and Iggy are streaky so is Green from 3. Green diving to the basket would have to be cut off and you would have scramble back to Barnes and Iggy (playing them for the drive or the 3) without leaving Klay and Steph. That's hard work and it takes effort but you mean to tell me that Steph playing 1 on 1 versus a big man is a better way to defend him than that?

 

[DaRock]

But the bottom line is beating them right? The Thunder's strategy allowed them to be in position to do that. The key to having a chance against GSW is not allowing the others to get going in addition to Steph showing out. You start blitzing him and he is just gonna find the open man, most likely Draymond or Iggy, and they will either take it to the cup or pass it to another open man. He scores on players of all shapes and sizes and ability levels all the same and does so from 30 feet out like it's nothing. You just gotta accept that he is gonna get his and focus on trying to beat the team.

Exactly....hell you may actually say fukk it, let him get his....we can beat the team even with Steph getting his...

 

[FAH1223]

Barnes and Iggy are streaky so is Green from 3. Green diving to the basket would have to be cut off and you would have scramble back to Barnes and Iggy (playing them for the drive or the 3) without leaving Klay and Steph. That's hard work and it takes effort but you mean to tell me that Steph playing 1 on 1 versus a big man is a better way to defend him than that?

I'd rather switch rather than devote 2 guys to one guy and leaving a shooter open or an angle to the rim

 

[Black_Panther_JS]

And that was more so about him just being off than anything the defense was doing. He was missing wide open looks in game 4. Game 6 and 7 he was hitting shots from 30 with 7 footers in his face.

nah some games they were guarding him real tight
but he was missing shots tho

 

[FTBS]

Exactly....hell you may actually say fukk it, let him get his....we can beat the team if with Steph getting his...

It was the same thing with Shaq. The teams that beat the Lakers are the ones that let Shaq get his and focused on slowing down everybody else. I got a feeling that Lue will approach it like that.

 

[Brozay]

Honestly the idea that OKCs bigs did a horrible job of staying in front of Curry is false. He crossed them a couple times last night and got clean looks, but if you go back and watch a lot of his shots, they actually did a good job of contesting and getting a hand up. He just makes everything

 

[Malta]

I'd hard hedge like the Cavs were doing last year and live with Green rolling to the rim, tell whoever is guarding Klay to stay home on him, let whoever is guarding Barnes/Iguodala be the one to rotate to contest Green at the rim. I don't think you can stop Curry, they tried everything this year and KD did as good a job as you can expect and it didn't matter in the end, he still got his shots off and they still went in. I want the ball out of Curry's hands and in Greens at the top of the key.

My goal wouldn't be to stop Steph/Klay, it would be to try and stop everyone else which is more realistic as long as you don't overreact to what Klay & Steph are doing, you have to live with them hitting those ridiculous threes because once you send help the ball swings and then you got easy shots for their teammates.

 

[Tha_Mac]

But the bottom line is beating them right? The Thunder's strategy allowed them to be in position to do that. The key to having a chance against GSW is not allowing the others to get going in addition to Steph showing out. You start blitzing him and he is just gonna find the open man, most likely Draymond or Iggy, and they will either take it to the cup or pass it to another open man. He scores on players of all shapes and sizes and ability levels all the same and does so from 30 feet out like it's nothing. You just gotta accept that he is gonna get his and focus on trying to beat the team.

Agreed but you saw the 3rd quarter last night when Steph and Klay was hitting shots OKC got demoralized. And it was only a 3 point game. I'm saying don't allow Steph to get going becuz that breathes life into the whole team. When he starts posing and doing his antics after shots the other guys start believing they can do anything.

This team is tuff and to me it just feels like the switching of pick and rolls has been figured out by the Warriors. GSW hasn't seen the trapping in awhile and maybe they can be confused or forced into turnovers by trying a different approach.

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

GS would pick them to pieces if they blitzed pnr's. They pass too well as a team. shyt, the ball would end up back in Steph's hands anyway with him wide open at times anyway.

Your only hope with Steph is trying hard at ball denial coming off screens and playing up close and physical 1-on-1 defense. If he blows by you, you bet on your help/rim protection. You gotta do the same with Klay too. If they beat you with a bunch of Draymond and Barnes/Iguodala 3's you live with it.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Yea I know but having a big man on him has to give Curry even more confidence than he already has which is crazy to think about. He as them at his will out there and that allows for driving to the rim. At least if you get the ball out of his hands you force other players to make those shots or take it to the rim or make passes.

Theres really not much you can do with Thompson back there. You cant have your best perimeter defender play them both. The problem with getting the ball out of his hands is that they have so many other options and if they start swinging the ball around he'll just get open again thru all those screens

 

[FTBS]

nah some games they were guarding him real tight
but he was missing shots tho

They were still guarding him tight when he started hitting again. But when he was at his coldest, he was indeed missing open looks.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

GS would pick them to pieces if they blitzed pnr's. They pass too well as a team. shyt, the ball would end up back in Steph's hands anyway with him wide open at times anyway.

Your only hope with Steph is trying hard at ball denial coming off screens and playing up close and physical 1-on-1 defense. If he blows by you, you bet on your help/rim protection. You gotta do the same with Klay too. If they beat you with a bunch of Draymond and Barnes/Iguodala 3's you live with it.

That's what Im saying. You gotta have your best perimeter player stick him all game but those players will be sacrificing some offense chasing him around all night

 

[Tha_Mac]

I'd hard hedge like the Cavs were doing last year and live with Green rolling to the rim, tell whoever is guarding Klay to stay home on him, let whoever is guarding Barnes/Iguodala be the one to rotate to contest Green at the rim. I don't think you can stop Curry, they tried everything this year and KD did as good a job as you can expect and it didn't matter in the end, he still got his shots off and they still went in. I want the ball out of Curry's hands and in Greens at the top of the key.

My goal wouldn't be to stop Steph/Klay, it would be to try and stop everyone else which is more realistic as long as you don't overreact to what Klay & Steph are doing, you have to live with them hitting those ridiculous threes because once you send help the ball swings and then you got easy shots for their teammates.

This is basically what I'm saying in the OP. I feel like the switching has been figured out and a change of philosophy could at least make GSW take some time to figure things out.