Golden State are a good team. But guess what? They aren't some Devine intervention from bestowed upon us from the heaven's above. I got tired of reading all the doomsday comments in the Nuggets game thread, insisting we will be demolished by the dubs on Friday. Outside of Curry, the Warriors shot 38% from the floor. Curry is the greatest shooter of all time. We know this. For some reason, and I really am struggling to find that reason, every team approaches Golden State the same way, and most fail. They try to lock up Curry. As Ish Smith would testify, this is near on impossible to do. But what you can do, is run him off the three point line. Curry is perhaps the only player in history that you would rather have driving into the lane than taking jumpers. Too often in the season opener, and in general, curry's man was sagging off (especially when Curry was bringing the ball up the court). You can't do this. I have yet to see any team attempt to run him off the line at every oppurtunity. Obviously, his ball handling is elite, and he will still find a way to get his, but it's about limiting the damage and the demoralising effect his three point shooting has. Every time he has the ball, get right up in his grill. Funnel him towards Dwight. I will take Curry driving to the rim everyday of the week over his long range bombing. He can still finish inside and has a nice finger roll, but it's limiting his damage. I also want to see Curry doubled in the half court sets, preferably on either wing or the corners. He is too good with the ball and too crafty of a passer to try to double at the top of the arc. Limit his space, take away as many three point attempts as possible. Like I said, you will never completely stop him from getting his, but continuously running him off the three point line and making him finish at the rim or forcing one of his teammates to beat us is a far more desirable option. I don't believe Curry is anywhere near as effective when he's being forced to attack the rim, he's not Harden, and he doesn't have the frame to do it over the course of a game. It will tire him out. Some other observations and ideas I have: 1. I want to see KJ McDaniels on Curry in the first quarter. Let's see what the kid has got. He has the lateral speed and quickness + fundamentals to make him work. Give it five minutes, if it's not working out, I want Ariza to switch to him. Beverley should be plan C. It's all about throwing different looks at them and taking them off guard. 2. Hack Ezeli/Bogut: This one is particularly puzzling to me. They are both poor free throw shooters. I am left scratching my head as to why no team has tried this on the dubs. I believe Bogut is out with a concussion, but normally speaking, Bogut is a huge part of their system. He gets the pass from Curry and either performs the give and go (pass back and then screen) or passes to the backdoor cut for an easy bucket (green or barnes normally screen curry or klay). He is an exceptional passer for a big man. If you hack him, and he's bricking his free throws, he will get yanked. This does two things, it takes the defensive anchor out of the game, leaving the undersized Green to hold down the paint, and it takes them out of their offensive rythm. 3. As mentioned above, I believe Bogut is out. Which leaves only Ezeli. Attack the rim relentlessly (on high percentage drives obviously). I don't want to see us settle for threes, if you can attack the rim. Do it. Get him in foul trouble. Give Dwight two or three post ups a quarter. Let's see how their much famed defense goes when Klay and Steph can't funnel their man to the paint. Narden will have lay ups for days on Maresse frickin Speights. 4. I want to see Thornton on Barbossa. No excuses for this not to happen. Brewer was abysmal today, but in the WCF Barbossa outplayed him handsomely. He is a very crafty player and a good shooter. He played off Brewer a lot in the half court during those games and clogged up the middle of the floor, in an attempt to take away Harden's drive. Thornton isn't particulary gifted athletically speaking, but he showed solid defensive principals in the pre season, and more importantly, he showed effort. If he is the first two guard off the bench, he will keep Barbossa accountable. And more importantly, if he gets hot, it will be huge. 5. If Jones doesn't bring it in the first 5 minutes. Harrell is in. Straight onto Green. It's a huge ask of the rookie, but he was fantastic today. He has the length to bother Green as well as the hustle (which jones seems to lack right now) and he is most of all, aggressive. Get in Draymonds face. Make him work. Be a pest Montrezl. 6. When he is on the floor, Livingston needs to be matched up by either Ariza, brewer or KJ. The dudes jumper is broken beyond 14 feet. He has a very good post game, and makes a living off backing down smaller guards and shooting over them. Again, zero excuses for this to occur. Switch the defender, make him shoot over the length of those guys mentioned above. Take away his strength, force someone else to beat us. 7. Last one: Aggression. I believe too often, Golden State gets its way. Play with passion, and grit. Hype up the crowd when a good play is made. Overwhelm them. Don't be passive, attack the defender, commit hard fouls, send a message. I want to see Harrell scream when he dunks on Draymond. Don't be afraid. Give them one hell of a fight.
You do realise I just posted this right? I am aware we lost. This is about turning it around and making a statement.
It's simple, PATRICK BEVERLEY. If Bev can force Curry into a subpar/below average shooting game we win. Also who's guarding Draymond Green? If it's T.Jones we're in trouble
I agree with the fact that warriors can be beat... that's true. There not invincible. The issue is clear with us though. Anyone that understands and be involved in the game of basketball for years can clearly look at the way Golden State plays the game on offense and defense then look at the way Houston plays the game on offense and defense then easily say GS will blow Houston out. GS plays as team game offensively all 5 players are actively involved in the offense and the easy, open in rhythm shot is always taken. HOUSTON doesn't play like that on offense... it's iso and pick and rolls... dribble dribble dribble run the shot clock down and take a contested out of rhythm shot. Defensively GS is on the ball and playing the pass lanes hard not letting you have easy uncontested shots... Houston on Defense right now is a mess... straight careless basketball. Lots of things need to change with this year's Houston Rockets to win games like this one upcoming on Friday night.
Professional basketball players making jump shots and lay ups would be helpful, I imagine. Professional basketball players not throwing the ball directly to teams with the wrong jersey would also be helpful, I imagine.
on paper, we have an excellent and simple strategy to beat the warriors. pound them in the paint with dwight, dmo and/or jones/capella, and harden and ty keep pressure on them at the perimeter. but also, on paper we should've ate the denver chicken nuggets for breakfast.
x's and o's aside, i think they first need to mentally put things together. last night feels like another preseason game. and i guess that's kinda where they still are, mentally. you cant expect to beat good teams with that kinda mental state. and i blame this on the coaching staff. the chances of a 0-2 start or worse are really high.
Getting blown out by Denver may help us in some ways against GSW. We're going to play mad, we're going to give full effort, and GSW may take us lightly. Look, we weren't ready to play against Denver for whatever reason. That game is over. If I had to choose between beating DEN and losing to GSW or beating GSW and losing to DEN then I choose beating GSW. How to do it? We need to guard 3's better, have to make our 3's, limit turnovers. With Dwight in the game we get an advantage down low and that will help a lot. We almost won both of the first two games against them in the playoffs. But our injuries during the preseason don't appear to have been just resting guys. We haven't had time to let this team gel and that will take some time.
Golden State's offense and defensive schemes make the Rockets scheme look ancient. This is what you get when you hire Kevin McFail. I never see the Warriors rely on isolation basketball, their offense is constant motion, passing, and cuts.
You can hire another coach but regardless that coach is still going to have to play the morey ball system. That's not going to change. People act like this is all McHales offense. Rockets are going to take a 3's, layups, pick n rolls, and push the pace. Obviously if the Rockets shoot like they did last night from 3 their chance of winning that game is very high. That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Its been the same system for years.
Only way they can beat GS is to play team ball on both ends of the court... If not GS will blow them out the gym... T_Man
