Ariza on Curry Put Ariza to hound and chase Curry. Once you shut down Curry, the whole team will collapse...
I disagree with the let curry get his ummmmm NO, if we get a few turnovers or dont score, and you have curry (getting his) then klay, barnes hit a 3 here in there, then were screwed, curry hypes up fans, mcahle calls timeouts etc.... dont need all that game plan should be get ball out of curry hands as much as possible and make others have good games to beat us.
1) They don't have any bigs who play above the rim. We should be able to get some tic-tac-toe lobs to Dwight/Capela even in traffic. Luckily both of our bigs have pretty good hands. 2) Rebounding: We should be able to win the rebounding battle. Our wings need to crash the defensive glass and make sure the rebound is secure before leaking out. The defensive possession isn't over until the rebound is secure. On the offensive side, everyone not named Dwight should run back on D as soon as we put a shot up. Only Dwight should try for offensive boards. 3) Big Man Depth: We need to punish their second unit bigs and hopefully get Darymond and Bogut fatigued. 4) Harden has to Cook. He is the ONLY player in this series that one-on-one can repeatedly beat his man if left on an island. Steph is amazing but uses screens and hand-offs to get the slivers of open space that he needs to launch his shots. Harden has got to unleash one of those 12/20 shooting nights where he's putting his defender on skates over and over again. We haven't really seen that since the Dallas series.
Curry is physically weak. We need to start Joey Dorsey at PF and give him 6 dirty fouls at the start of every game until he goes down for the series.
That is the case with most good teams. I don't know that Brewer's defensive awareness is good enough to start. He loses his man too easy. Yes, this is the type of match up the Rockets have to exploit.
Why not just take him out first play of the game. Run into him, tackle him into the floor and start wailing on him...
The key is to start fast and focused, and hit them before they know what happened. They have little experience in the WCF, like many have said, and the Rockets need to take advantage of that.
That's playing into their hands. They want you to trap curry so they can play 4 on 3. Their base offense is a high pick n roll with Draymond setting the screen for Steph WAY above the 3 pt line. Most defensive teams wouldn't trap that far up but against GS you have to because Steph is such a good off the dribble shooter. Curry makes the quick pass to Draymond who is now in the center of the court above the break where he can see the whole floor. Now they are playing 4 on 3 basketball. At this point, Green has three options depending on what the remaining defenders do: 1) shoot if left open 2) drive past the hard closing defender, setting up either a: a finish at the rim b: drop off pass to the big under the rim c: pass to the open shooter(s) on the weak side. Its basically what we run when Josh/TJ sets a screen for Harden, with better spacing. The difference is we don't set the pick as high up as GS (which gives them more floor space to work with once the release pass to Green occurs) and our shooters aren't as deadly as Thompson and Barnes from deep (so teams will cheat off of our shooters more making the paint more congested). It's super simple, yet highly effective and will be there all day for them against standard defenses. To muck this up you need a PG defender with the quickness/grit to get over the initial screen more often than not. Conley was up to it and we saw the kind of effect it hard on their offense. Obviously we don't have a Mike Conley. We have the grandpas. This will be a TOUGH assignment for either of them. Nick Johnson has the physical tools to play this type of defense but it seems unlikely a rookie who hasn't played anything other than garbage time will get the call with so much at stake. I think the best way to muck their offense up will be to deny Curry the inbound pass as often as possible and make one of Thompson/Green bring the ball up and initiate the offense. These guys are like Terry and Josh Smith for us, they can make plays off the bounce once the defense is already scrambling but they can't be relied upon to make plays against a set defense. I think this type of scheme will be successful in creating some turnovers and perhaps forcing Kerr to go with Livingston/Iggy over Barnes to get additional playmaking on the court. They lose the shooting and our guys can play one step closer to the paint on the perimeter.
Curry doesn't like contact and is a pretty thin guy. Any time you foul him , get your moneys worth. Wear him down physically & get in his head. I dont care if its in the paint , at half court of if he sits in the stands. Hard playoff fouls. When he sets those illegal screens , make him pay. He should be battered & bruised by the half of game one , p!ssing & whining.
Not so sure thats an option because Terry & Prigioni aren't going to fare well defending Iguodala or Thompson , they have a big size advantage in those matchups. Then again , if you force Curry to be a scorer rather than a distributor .... those guys aren't going to get a whole lot on their own. Shut them down & be physical with Curry is the best way to beat them.
I actually think we need to hound Klay. Curry is going to get his 30, he is capable of hitting shots with a hand in his face, off the bounce, off the catch and going either direction. You have far more hope of bothering Klay's shot and forcing Curry to shoot more than he wants to. Also, please guard the 3 point line. This game will quickly get out of hand if they start free stroking from 3. Force them to put it on the floor and settle for the two or challenge Dwight, Capela or Jones at the rim.
I agree with all of this. The Rockets need to be the most physical team the Warriors have ever played. Play them hard, every foul should hurt. I'm not saying break noses or draw blood, but bang bodies and make them wake up sore tomorrow. Don't let them think wining a championship will be easy, because I guarantee you they do think that. Bruise their confidence and make them play hard, and Curry won't be sitting any more 4th quarters.
Warriors defense seems to be great because of their ability to switch. This is principally with Green. In some ways, he's like more of a PF version of Ariza, who can guard 2-5, whereas Ariza can guard 1-4. I haven't watched enough Warriors though to see it tested. If you constantly put Green in those switch situations, as opposed to just occasionally, how does he hold up, especially with regard to foul trouble. I'm speaking specifically with getting Green on Harden on the perimeter, and Dwight down low (via 4/5 PnR with Smith as an example).
James Harden PnR with whoever Green is guarding to get him out of the play. Bogut will suffer heavily and maybe pick up some fouls having to guard josh and Dwight 2v1.
How are people still unaware that Bogut is one of the best defenders to have ever played in the NBA? He's been on Dwight's level (per minute/possession/whatever) every year. Comparing DJ to him is laughable. Luckily he's minute restricted because of his frailness. The Rockets need to take advantage every time he's on the bench.
Also, as painful as it may be to watch, I'd like Smith - along with Harden on PNRs - to attack Green and try to get him in foul trouble.
