Bulls and OKC are the only team I can see beating GS in a playoff series (right now).
Every year people pick Chicago to go far. I don't get it.
Neither do I.
They were up 2-1 against Cleveland before Pau got hurt.
They barely won 50 games and 8 teams had a better record than them last season. In the West Dallas won 50 games and I didn't see people call them a contender. And the Cavs were missing Kevin Love in those 3 games.
Efficiency, and have only Curry Shoot the ball. The mentally weak, only shoot the 3-ball, to catch up. If you try to out-shoot the Splash Brothers, you might as well pack up and go to the next city. You try(ing) to bring a Checkers approach, to a Chess Game...... Game Over, or should I say Check Mate.
If you only have Curry shoot the ball, I see an 82 point game.
How was Cleveland so effective during the Finals despite injury?
The thing about shooters, they get tight. Klay, Dray had horrible shooting playoffs, Curry missed an unusual amount of free throws. And then Curry got tight in the finals - the amount of balls, accuracy, and fluidity it takes to take/make Curry's 3s, if a sliver of doubt runs through his mind in that process, it lowers the shots % of going in, IMO. Cliche and almost besides the point but I think the only team who can beat the Warriors is themselves
The danger of the Warriors' small ball lineup lies within their PnR offense. Since Curry demands so much attention from up to 30ft out, he gets overplayed beyond the 3pt line. When they run guys like Draymond or Barnes in that PnR, they catch it on the move with their defenders still catching up behind them (due to the press on Curry), and essentially get a 2 second window of 4-on-3 ball with all options able to shoot the 3, cut and finish, pass or make a play. Even when GS plays Bogut, he is a very good, multi-faceted player iff the PnR.
That kind of versatility that is maximized by defensive vulnerability created by Curry's deadly range and scoring ability makes their small-ball lineup nearly impossible to defend. The best way to contain them requires a feisty defender to never leave Curry's side and fight thru screens, an athletic big to recover ASAP off the PnR, help defenders who can show ling enough to deter an open drive for the rolling big while being quick enough to recover on the 3pt shooters, and a gameplan that wants Green/Barnes/Bogut to be scorers off the PnR instead of passers. Cleveland almost made this work in the Finals. Putting David Lee in blew that gameplan up since he is a great scorer in the PnR, and then towards the end of the series Iggy and Curry found their strokes. However, they were still in it, and if they had a bit more firepower we might still be talking about if small-ball could win a championship.
Thing is not many teams are equipped to stop them... Even the Spurs who are equipped are one major weakness, How are they gonna hide Parker on defense thats an issue they will have trouble with offensively the Spurs will be okay but eventually GSW will get stops and Spurs still have a weakness defensively in Parker, thats a reason Spurs could still lose and they may not even meet in the WCF Spurs could get knocked out again early like last year maybe in the second round if they go against an OKC/Clippers*/HOU*
*If they turn it around I feel like OKC will get their act together
San Antonio does pose a big matchup problem on the wing for GSW because they have two good perimeter defenders in Green and Leonard. The rest of their roster, however, might not be that problematic. Parker and Ginobili have lost quite a bit of defensive effectivness, and Patty Mills has never been known as a stopper. Duncan was a DPOY candidate last year imo, probably their best front court defender because I've seen GSW score against Aldridge, and West is slow footed.
So here's what we need to see: how does SAS guard the Curry/Green pick and roll?
If they put Leonard (best wing defender) on Curry, it'll be Duncan or Aldridge on Green. Switching leaves Duncan or Aldridge on Curry, which is death. Doubling Curry may be effective, since Leonard has enormous length making the escape pass hard. if Curry can hit Green on the short roll, however, he has space and 3 other offensive players to pass to, defended by Parker, the other of Duncan/Aldridge, and Green. Four v Three, and one of the three defenders is a weak PG defender. Advantage GSW. The key is Curry being smart getting the ball out and away from the double, because Leonard is a predator in the passing lanes. The turnover battle there is gonna swing games.
Kerr/Gentry's offensive system is what's going to separate GSW from the past matchup with SAS under Mark Jackson two years ago. I don't think that team was equipped to pass the ball and make SAS pay for giving Curry attention. Klay/Barnes are better, and Iguodala is a clutch mofo. Livingston is another smart passer. GSW won't just stand around as much, and even their pick and roll has MUCH more diversity.
Curry is also much better off the ball now, and not just as a decoy. Kerr is using him as a screen setter, so he puts pressure on other defenders to make decisions about helping on CUTTING players, not just dudes acting like Pylons (as they did under Jackson)
I'm really curious if SAS can field a lineup that can matchup with GSW's death lineup with Green at C. Who does SAS pull off the court? Mills/Green/Leonard/Aldridge . . . ? Do you leave Duncan in and gamble he can be effective against a five-out ofense? Pull Duncan, and who's the extra perimeter player? Parker on an island with that much space is gonna get killed. Maybe Boris Diaw?
Joined: 10 Apr 2001 Posts: 65135 Location: Orange County, CA
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 9:01 am Post subject:
KeepItRealOrElse wrote:
Mike@LG wrote:
How was Cleveland so effective during the Finals despite injury?
The thing about shooters, they get tight. Klay, Dray had horrible shooting playoffs, Curry missed an unusual amount of free throws. And then Curry got tight in the finals - the amount of balls, accuracy, and fluidity it takes to take/make Curry's 3s, if a sliver of doubt runs through his mind in that process, it lowers the shots % of going in, IMO. Cliche and almost besides the point but I think the only team who can beat the Warriors is themselves
I think it was that to a degree. However, I also think Cleveland defense had them taking shots out of rhythm.
Cleveland controlled pace for almost all of the games, a majority of the time. _________________ Resident Car Nut.
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 35811 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:47 am Post subject:
oaktown_dimond wrote:
Outside of the Bibby vs. Steph matchup, they're virtually the same fricken team. Lol!
22 wrote:
I'd like to see the '02 Kings vs '15 Warriors
Bibby vs Curry
Peja vs Klay
Christie vs Barnes
Webber vs Green
Divac vs Bogut
That'd be a fun matchup
Not really... Webber is a completely different (and superior) player to Green, Peja is three inches taller than Thompson, Barnes is much more athletic than Christie... _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
I think Golden State would handle that Sacramento team pretty decisively.
Yeah, the only similarity is that they were both uptempo teams. And I haven't checked any numbers, but I suspect the Kings are only uptempo relative to their era. They would probably be a midtempo team in today's NBA.
Outside of the Bibby vs. Steph matchup, they're virtually the same fricken team. Lol!
22 wrote:
I'd like to see the '02 Kings vs '15 Warriors
Bibby vs Curry
Peja vs Klay
Christie vs Barnes
Webber vs Green
Divac vs Bogut
That'd be a fun matchup
And while Bibby was certainly not nearly as explosive or impactful as Curry, the play styles are similar.
Green vs Webber would be so fun to watch!!!
Webber would destroy Green, and I really like Green. Webber was an amazing talent.
But the Warriors would roll the Kings. Curry is a huge game changer. Barnes would destroy Christie. Klay is better than Peja as a defender, but both tend to shrink in the biggest moments. Bogut is a far superior defender than Vlade and nearly as good a passer. And the Warriors bench is better than the Kings.
Outside of the Bibby vs. Steph matchup, they're virtually the same fricken team. Lol!
22 wrote:
I'd like to see the '02 Kings vs '15 Warriors
Bibby vs Curry
Peja vs Klay
Christie vs Barnes
Webber vs Green
Divac vs Bogut
That'd be a fun matchup
And while Bibby was certainly not nearly as explosive or impactful as Curry, the play styles are similar.
Green vs Webber would be so fun to watch!!!
Webber would destroy Green, and I really like Green. Webber was an amazing talent.
But the Warriors would roll the Kings. Curry is a huge game changer. Barnes would destroy Christie. Klay is better than Peja as a defender, but both tend to shrink in the biggest moments. Bogut is a far superior defender than Vlade and nearly as good a passer. And the Warriors bench is better than the Kings.
Joined: 10 Apr 2001 Posts: 65135 Location: Orange County, CA
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:04 pm Post subject:
I don't think Webber destroys Green. This is post injury/mature Webber, not elite-athlete Webber.
It is Curry that lights up Bibby. Christie would try to force Klay into tough shots. But man, the Ws still can send Iguodala or Barnes on Peja to blanket him. _________________ Resident Car Nut.
I don't think Webber destroys Green. This is post injury/mature Webber, not elite-athlete Webber.
It is Curry that lights up Bibby. Christie would try to force Klay into tough shots. But man, the Ws still can send Iguodala or Barnes on Peja to blanket him.
I think that in pre-zone nba, curry would have a much harder time getting the shot off. it's hard to tell but interesting, he is definitely a product of post-zone nba.
How was Cleveland so effective during the Finals despite injury?
The thing about shooters, they get tight. Klay, Dray had horrible shooting playoffs, Curry missed an unusual amount of free throws. And then Curry got tight in the finals - the amount of balls, accuracy, and fluidity it takes to take/make Curry's 3s, if a sliver of doubt runs through his mind in that process, it lowers the shots % of going in, IMO. Cliche and almost besides the point but I think the only team who can beat the Warriors is themselves
yes. yes, very much.
this is always running through my head as I'm watching this team. What they are are the Suns who won a championship. The Suns just came a few years too early for it to work in the NBA. I don't think there's anything particularly brilliant about Curry or their offense, because we saw it before.
Size should be able to beat them, if it is the proper kind of size. I'm not exactly sure what I mean by proper yet, but probably long, lanky, mobile guys. That will disrupt their smooth offense, a bunch of tayshaun princes. On the other end, they would have to score, so probably one advantage would be a big man who can score, a marc gasol (how does he tend to play vs them?) type.
other than that, in this nba, it would have to be a better version of what they do. maybe even better shooters with slightly more size? that would work too, or just a little better shooters.
this whole small ball, three point happy nba is really fascinating. it is sort of exciting, but i can't get past that thought above about how it's just bad basketball fundamentally. i think the worst thing about it is that it devalues all these other long-standing, fundamental skill sets...the post, the big man, the boxing out, the hands-on defense, the man vs man defense. it's pushed a lot of these to not be as important anymore. now, probably every player on the team should be a proficient three point shooter. that was never the case before. that used to be a specialty shot, not something in everyone's repertoire.
When they have a cold shooting night, it's imperative to rebound the majority of those misses. Can't afford to let them have multiple chances each trip. It's nothing special or atypical of what it takes to win a game. There have been a few games when Curry was 3-12, or 5-15 from distance. Some of those games have been close. Did the opponent rebound those misses?
Another thing is to stay disciplined...don't get into a shooting match with them. Panicky quick threes are a no-no.
Mix in some Hack a Bogut in an attempt to frustrate them and that crowd. They want that quick pace, but it's the opponent's job to minimize that as much as possible. _________________ Smrek 2, Nevitt 1, Barkley 0
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