ADVERTISEMENT

How would you defend golden state?

It's pick your poison with them. There's a reason why they won 67 games.

It's always been my thought that you need to make someone other than the best player beat you. Easier said than done with Curry because he dominates the ball in their system. I would blitz the perimeter screens when Curry has the ball and force him to give it up. At least he is not draining 3 after 3 on you. Even though Thompson has had some monster games this season I still think you have to take your chances with him beating you. If he makes 10+ 3's and goes for 50 you tip your hat & hope there's another game left in the series to try & get them.

The other thing that Memphis does so well is slow the tempo. You cannot get into an up & down game with them. The more possessions they get the more chances there are for Curry, Thompson, Barnes etc.to make 3's. It then becomes like the old Loyola Marymount thing where they are willing to trade 3 for 2 because they know they will just outscore you
 
For the life of me, I don't understand how Draymond Green is as good as he's been at his size . That's a dude with a ton of heart.

And yes, I'd concentrate on guarding the two guards and forcing someone like Iguodala to hurt me. Mind you, he shot 7-10/2-3 last game, but I know he can be hot and cold.

So in the end, I guess I'd just play the "man vs. the guards and the rest clog the lane" D.
 
1) You can't give up transition opportunities. GS was second in the league in transition possessions and 5th in PPP off transition. They'll just kill you there. This means limit turnovers and make shots.

2) Stop early 3's. This ties into 1 somewhat, since most early threes come off transition, but GS also shoots a lot of quick pull-ups. GS shoots 44% on 3's taken with between 18-22 seconds on the shot clock. This means finding shooters in transition and pressuring the ball handlers when the cross half-court. None of that is going to save you if Curry decides to cross you over and pullup from 25 feet. But you can at least make it a harder shot.

3) Take the ball out of Curry's hands. While Thompson and Barnes have both shown better ball-handling skills this year than in the past, Curry is still the only guy with handles amongst their starters (he has enough to go around). When you look at the GS offense, more than half of their shots come with no dribbles and their eFG on those sorts of possessions is 59%. Curry's penetration is what drags the defense out of shape which leads to ball rotation, which leads to open catch-and-shoot opportunities. So how do you stop Curry in the pick-and-roll? It is pretty impossible. If you have your big sag back to contain his penetration, he'll just pull up in your face (probably preferable to letting him penetrate and kick, but still a losing bet for the defense). If your big hedges, Curry is just going to go around him and you'll have to contend with Curry streaking to the basket and Bogut rolling hard to the rim. Neither ZBo or Gasol has the foot speed to contend with Curry on a screen hedge.
When your secondary post defender crashes down to mark Bogut, Green is going to be wide-open, probably in the corner for a 3. When Memphis has had success it has been with Conley fighting over the screens. That does leave you a step behind Curry, but it at least preserves the general shape of your defense and, if Curry is going to get to the rim, Conley will be right there to challenge the shot. The problem with that is it is incredibly physically tasking ask on Conley, who is already primarily responsible for generating offense on the other end. It doesn't help that Curry can cross-match on non-shooters on the other end and doesn't have to work against Conley. You could also try trapping Curry high, before GS gets into their offense. But they move the ball so well, that playing 4 v 3 against them after the trap is also a losing proposition.

One thing you can do, if you have some PG depth is you can do what the Spurs did against Chris Paul. Whenever they had a backup PG (mostly Mills) matched-up on CP3, they picked CP3 up full court, which often forced the ball out of his hands. You still have to deal with Curry as a spot-up shooter, but that is better than Curry as the offense initiator.

4) Pray they miss open shots. That's basically the only way you're going to beat them, because no matter what you do, they're going to get a lot of open looks. 45% of their shots during the regular season came with the closest defender 4 feet away or more. 20% of their total shots came with a defender 6+ feet away and they shot an eFG of 60% on those shots. Their offense is geared to generate open looks for basically anyone on the court, because everyone (except Bogut) can shoot. There is only so much you can do when they got hot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cyrock3
I honestly don't think there is a way to stop them.....they will either miss shots or hit them....I've only seen one team do a decent job defensively against them and they are out of the playoffs (Spurs).

On the surface, the team should get better each of the next two years. I think they need to be willing to do what OKC didn't do, which is allow a player to get to his last year of his contract and let that player walk...if you try and trade a Harrison Barnes or they decide to not pay Draymond Green big money, they really only need to replace one player. Iguodala was the key to the roster, he deferred his game, shots and went from 2nd/ 3rd option two years ago to 4th or even 5th option, by coming off the bench. Same thing goes for David Lee, who would start on most Western Conference teams, but allows Green and Barnes to float and shoot 3's.

Lee and the bench are the key...they have 4 former all star/6th man of the year/lottery types (Lee, Iguodala, Shawn Livingston, Barbosa) that can all score in transition against another teams 2nd unit. It's an unusually talented roster by NBA standards, probably the deepest I can recall as far as balance is concerned.

If it's Cleveland vs. Golden State, the question would be whether they would ask Lebron to take away Klay Thompson and let Curry see if he can outscore Clevelands backcourt of Irving/JR Smith and Shumpert etc...I think the only hope Cleveland has is Irving matching Curry offensively and Lebron taking away Thompson. Thompson doesn't have a prayer or chance to defend or guard Lebron, so Iguodala probably makes the switch to guard him on defense.
 
If Cleveland is trying to match up with GSW, then the most likely match-ups on defense will be
Curry -- Smith
Klay -- Shumpert
Barnes -- Irving
Green -- James
Bogut -- Mozgov

If Cleveland decides to keep Thompson in the starting line-up then you probably see
Curry -- Shumpert
Klay -- James
Barnes -- Irving
Green -- Thompson
Bogut -- Mozgov

In terms of guarding James, Barnes probably starts on him, and you'll see Green and Iggy both taking cracks at him throughout the game. Rotate defenders onto him, foul him hard when he goes to the rim, try to tire him out. He is already shouldering a much bigger offensive load this year in the playoffs vs last year. Green is a much better help defender than Barnes, so you don't want him as primary on James much of the time (since you never want to help off of James if you can help it). Same with putting Smith on Curry, when him and Shump are both in the game.

The challenge for the Cavs is going to be generating enough offense if they are forced to play line-ups with Thompson and Mozgov for defense/rebounding purposes. The lane will get really crowded if both Bogut and Green are able to sag off non-shooters.

There is zero chance GSW doesn't max out Green. With the cap poised to go up, it will be a phenomenal contract for the team. Lee is almost definitely gone, either via trade or via the stretch provision. No need to have your 10th man making 16mil a year.
 
What everyone is missing is that it is not the starting 5.....They beat you down through a game. They are able to rest and bring in AI, Livingston, Mo...etc. Oh by the way David Lee is 10th man... Golden state loses games they don't get beaten (unless you are San Antonio).

Maybe I am biased because I live in the Bay Area, but this team is really good.

And lets not forget that they are one of the top defensive teams. It's not just the offense.
 
Have we already written off the Hawks vs the Cavs (I expect them to get by the Wizards), or the Rockets/Clippers winner? Memphis could come back at home tonight to force a game 7 vs the Warriors. Lots of basketball to go!
 
Can i reply to individual points by clicking the reply box?Old school kid here who is just as bad as my dad when it comes to the computer.

A lot of good stuff written here. With teams with good shooters, I really don't like help defense all that much. Find the shooters, stay with them. Forces your players to be accountable. Stay disciplined with man on their shooters. No help.

Like you guys mentioned, complete opposite teams in terms of tempo. GS can get sloppy, but it's worth the risk with how low tempo memphis is. Curry has to be maintained in some way. As one poster said, full GS team isn't full of ball handlers. Mark the ones that aren't hot from 3 and great at handling and take your chances with taking that defender off that player and double to guard Curry.

I think we all agree it can be pick your poison, but still- Some players are better than others. Take your chances on Igudola getting hot, take your chances on Thompson, go after Curry. Curry makes this team what they are. Sure, DG has tons of heart, but Curry is the face. Double him and do your best to limit him.

Lots of great knowledge on this board. thanks for the replies lads.
 
Great shooters. Defense wins game, but if you can shoot the ball like GS, you may not have to play any defense.

Kidding but they are the best shooters we've seen in the NBA in a while.
 
Interesting how Golden State`s most unstoppable player was barely recruited out of high school.
 
ADVERTISEMENT