Doubleup defense bottles up Curry
Clippers’ strategy exposes key weakness of newlook Warriors
On the first day of training camp, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr walked his nine newcomers through a staple of Golden State’s offense: Whenever guard Stephen Curry faces a doubleteam, his teammates must immediately set two screens, just enough to free up some space for the greatest shooter in NBA history.
Hours before Thursday night’s season opener against the Clippers, Kerr reviewed the tactic with his players during shootaround. Then, as Curry struggled with near constant doubleteams from Kawhi Leonard and Patrick Beverley, Kerr repeatedly pleaded from the sideline for those picks for Curry.
It didn’t work. Swarmed by two of the league’s best defenders much of the night, Curry appeared flummoxed, needing 20 shots to score 23 points and posting twice as many turnovers (eight) as assists (four). After all the
preseason hype over his statistical potential with Kevin Durant gone and Klay Thompson (knee surgery) out until at least late February, Curry showed that even a future Hall of Famer needs some help.
Of the many sobering truths to surface in Thursday’s dud, the Warriors recognize that this might be the most damning. It’s not hyperbolic to say that Golden State’s playoff chances depend on Curry’s sublime shooting. If he gets worn down or, worse, seriously injured, the Warriors might as well give up on a memorable maiden season at Chase Center and go allin on their youth movement.
“They were obviously trying to pressure Steph,” forward Glenn Robinson III said of the Clippers. “We just need to figure out any way that we can get him free, get him some open shots. Because if we do that, we know he’ll knock them down.”
What made Curry’s issues Thursday so troubling was that they had no easy fix. With only one other proven scorer available (D’Angelo Russell), the Warriors are suddenly predictable. Opponents can craft almost their entire defensive game plan around making life difficult on Curry.
Perhaps inspired by the Raptors’ innovative defense on Golden State in the Finals, the Clippers had Beverley or Landry Shamet shadow Curry on Thursday. A second defender, often Leonard, watched Curry nearby and pounced whenever necessary. On numerous occasions, help defenders abandoned their men to further blanket Curry.
Even as the clanked jumpers mounted, the Warriors didn’t deviate from their offensive scheme, asking Curry to channel his freeflowing playing style amid a maze of bodies. With Russell laboring (he missed seven consecutive shots after scoring the team’s first 10 points), the Warriors had no offensive threats that warranted the defense’s attention.
The Clippers sagged off Golden State’s complementary options, only for the likes of Robinson, Draymond Green or Jordan Poole to either bypass wideopen jumpers or miss on those looks. Kerr was left to beg for more screens for Curry. And until Russell gets comfortable or other scorers emerge, Kerr might have no other recourse.
“Think about what Steph’s lost alongside him,” Kerr said. “Klay, Kevin, Andre (Iguodala), Shaun (Livingston), among others. That’s an awful lot of firepower with your teammates to lose.
“So, he understands what he’s going to face. There’s going to be more attention to him. More doubleteams thrown his way.”
Few franchises boast a defensive arsenal of the Clippers’ caliber, but plenty of other teams are sure to follow Los Angeles’ blitzheavy blueprint. The good news for the Warriors is that, if anyone can handle such relentless pressure, it’s probably Curry.
As a junior at Davidson in 2008, he had Loyola (Md.) defend him with a modified triangle and two in which two players shadowed him everywhere and the other three Greyhound players coped with the remaining four Davidson players. In June’s Finals, the Raptors unloaded a boxandone zone on Curry, a defense perhaps better suited for middleschool rec leagues than the NBA.
Along the way, Curry saw it all: rough fouls, notsafeforwork taunts, fullcourt gimmicks — anything to quell his brilliance. How well those approaches have worked has fluctuated from night to night.
Though the Clippers succeeded Thursday at throwing Curry offkilter, he also missed shots he normally makes. Curry went 0for7 on attempts with a defender within 4 feet of him. Last season, he converted 36.6% of those shots.
“We got some pretty decent looks consistently,” Curry said. “It was just a matter of making them. Right now, it’s about not overreacting to one game . ... But yeah, I’m sure film won’t be pretty.”