ClayK said:
There's a reason Steph Curry is a two-time MVP and destined for the Hall of Fame -- you can't guard him.
The Rockets double-teamed him and he scored 33 and his teammates got open looks. (Kerr, by the way, did an interesting thing by allowing the double team to occur right near halfcourt, which spread the court for the roller and created very good looks.)
The Blazers dropped Kanter back and Curry scored 35 (or however many it was).
My guess is that Stotts' plan was to let Curry get his and hold everyone else down, which is a reasonable strategy. The problem was that Lillard, who whined afterward, didn't show up. If Lillard gets 35, then Stotts would be praised for his coaching acumen.
The other issue is this: Kanter in a double-team on Curry is pointless -- he's not nearly quick enough to keep Curry from dribbling around him, which now means the Warriors are playing 4-on-3. And Portland has no other option than Kanter inside with Nurkic hurt. Without Kanter's 16 rebounds, Portland is in a world of hurt.
I'm sorry. No, giving Curry wide open threes is not a viable strategy. I don't care how you try to spin it. Its not like its some failure of execution that is causing the wide open threes. Its a conscious choice. Portland is choosing to give Curry wide open threes because they think that's somehow a good defensive strategy. Its the dumbest thing I've ever seen in a conference finals game.
The dubs probably gave about a D+/C- effort on the offensive side of the ball, and they still lit up portland. If they had wanted to, they could've gone to the 1-5 PNR every single time down the court. There's a reason they didn't. Its just like greg papa said earlier during his radio show this afternoon. 'Put some bodyguards around Kanter, make sure he's healthy at all costs!"
The Warriors are doing everything in their power to keep Kanter on the court because they know they can go to the well any time they want with Kanter on the floor. that's why during game 1, they picked their spots carefully and only went at Kanter when they needed to. They don't want to force Kanter off the court. But if that were a Game 7, Curry could've gone for 60 if he had wanted to if Portland kept their bigs sagging.
Lets look at this logically. The key on defense is to make the opponents take the least efficient shot possible. Can we all agree on that?
Now, besides a layup/dunk/free throw, is there a more efficient shot in basketball than a wide open curry 3?
Now lets say you replace Kanter with Collins. And then you switch the on-ball PNR. so you have Collins guarding steph in space. And you tell Collins that his only job is to drive Curry off the 3 point line.
In that scenario, what are some of the worst things that can happen. a) Curry takes a 3, but at least with at least slightly more on-ball pressure (at least he will have to work for it) or b) Curry easily drives by Collins and takes a wide open mid-range jumper or c) Curry easily drives by Collins (the portland defenders have orders to close off the lane and leave all other warrior's shooters open - besides Klay), Curry drives, lane gets closed off, curry passes to Iggy (or whoever) for a wide open 3
All of those scenarios are WAY better than allowing Curry to walk into an open 3 with the next closest person 15 feet away from him. you have to play the percentages.
Stotts right now has the entire basketball world laughing at him. I can't watch/listen to a single TV or radio show right now without seeing people just laughing at him. Kelenna last night had trouble even speaking during the postgame cause he was so flabbergasted with stott's defensive strategy. seeing people flabbergasted was a common occurrence last night.
Now you and Stotts may be geniuses and know something that we all don't know. but much more likely, portland is going to adjust and at the very least play Kanter up. And eventually as the series goes on, you're going to see Portland start going small way more often.
I actually see Game 2 being portland's golden opportunity. The warriors aren't taking portland seriously at all (especially after last night). Kerr is playing the bench heavy mins without regard, they are throwing behind the back passes into the stands, they are just going through the motions on offense, they don't respect portland. If portland can start play physically on defense, grab/hold/bump on every off ball screen, get in steph's face on pnr's, and just make life as difficult as possible, i can see portland giving the dubs a game. but if they play the same brand of defense as last night, it doesn't matter what lillard does, its over. Cause i don't care how good lillard is. An open curry 3 is always going to beat a contested lilllard shot over the course of a 7 game series. Its as simple as that.
