Yeah man... D was average.
Steph hypnotized him with a few lil light crosses and a relaxed posture (very smart and cerebral way to create space), then the defender nudged him back further which gave him more space...
when you know his range is anything past half court (lol) with space
...
...if you're gonna commit that closely man-to-man that far out
on someone like Steph, then you gotta go all the way in, and realize you have help behind you and just live with the dribble drive and kick to someone with a lower efficiency rate.
let's review some fundamental concerns ...
the defender was looking at the ball damn near the entire time when you're taught as a kid in organized ball to watch primarily the midsection, glancing up when face guarding
defender had his hands down damn near the entire time when you're taught as a kid in organized ball to have you arms outstretched as an on ball defender (or offball in the zone), especially if you have length, to help confine the offensive player to a defined area
defender had his eyes down after nudging steph into his slight stepback motion, and got his hands up late
... also some of greatest blockers used their left hand to try to block and their right to try to shield the defenders eyes
Playing Steph man to man beyond the arc requires precision and a willingness to look foolish and huge amount of energy exertion. And defenders aren't playing like that anymore. too cool for that shyt. It requires that 45 year old man, grizzled vet, Rec Center, YMCA defense where that defender was all in your shyt the entire time, committing to the constant amount of moment to moment discipline it takes to not give you space within a defined area. As you said, those defenders made you conform to them.
I still haven't seen that on Steph. Maybe in the playoffs. But you don't have many guard defensive specialists anymore
Can't wait til the 'offs to see if the refs will allow that kinda D on Steph, and if anyone will accept the challenge of trying that.
Why you think they called GP the Glove? He suffocated people. Looking back, his ability to do it on both ends was just incredible. Y'all sure yall are hoopers?
