Zach Lowe on Golden State Warriors vs Houston Rockets

Shaq2Yao · May 13, 2018

Tfor3 said: ↑

How many of those were played against a team with Harden - Paul and Capela?
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A healthy Warriors against Harde/Paul/Capela is 0-2. Far less impressive!

daywalker02 · May 13, 2018

But at some point, Curry will slide over to a less-threatening player. Thompson, Iguodala, and Durant can split the Paul/Harden assignments. It will be fascinating to see how Kerr deploys Durant on defense. Thompson has usually drawn the Harden assignment. If Curry is hiding on a wing type, that would leave Durant and Iguodala left as primary defenders on Paul. Guarding Paul over long stretches might be too much for Iguodala. We might see more of Durant on Paul than normal matchups would dictate. (He guarded him at times in the regular season.)

Golden State might even flip those assignments around, and have Durant check Harden while Thompson hounds Paul. Remember: The last time these teams met in the playoffs, Thompson had enough trouble with Harden's battering ram physicality that Kerr eventually assigned Harrison Barnes to Harden. Durant could even defend Capela, leaving Green on Tucker -- and allowing Green to rove as a help defense menace. (Kerr experimented with this in the regular season, too.)

We will see everything. Shaun Livingston will get chances defending both Houston stars. Both teams will switch so much, individual matchups might not even matter. But Curry's will. When things get grimy, Houston will hunt Curry, and have his man screen for Harden. That is one action the Warriors will try not to switch; they don't want Curry on Harden. Harden overpowers him, plows to the rim, and either lays the ball in or finds an open teammate.

The less dangerous the screener, the less dangerous it is to have Curry lunge off of that player, cut off Harden, and then scurry back to his original man. That is one benefit of slotting him onto Ariza or Mbah a Moute. It's still dangerous, though. Everything is dangerous against Houston.
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J.R. · May 19, 2018

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...tate-warriors-vs-houston-rockets-nba-playoffs

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Zach Lowe on Golden State Warriors vs Houston Rockets

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