Even on the verge of turning 37, Steph Curry continues to be an incredible participant. His offensive manipulation of house on the ground mixed with a mastery of his personal gravity and timing makes him a basketball wizard. In Monday’s blowout, he nonetheless led the Warriors in scoring with 18 factors and 4 assists, however he could have given that every one again on protection.
Of the 4 main American sports activities, basketball is the one which forces you probably the most to play either side of the ball. What Curry offers you on offense, his 6’2 body takes away on D.
“First play of the sport, Curry deflected a move and I believed we made a acutely aware effort to be extra bodily with our submit assaults, whether or not it was Curry, [Buddy] Hield, and [Moses] Moody at instances,” head coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned after his Celtics doubled up their hosts 52-to-26 within the paint.
“I believed that compromised their protection a little bit bit and we had been capable of benefit from that. I believed the physicality of our deep submit catches vs. their smalls was impactful and we discovered other ways to get to that — whether or not it was JB, whether or not it was JT, whether or not it was KP. I believed JB did a superb job setting that tone from a physicality standpoint.”
“Simply being aggressive and simply being bodily. I’m guarding him, so chasing him round, however on the defensive finish, making him pay as properly,” Jaylen Brown mentioned. “Anytime we had been in transition, we had been crossmatched and he was on me, I’m making an attempt to simply make him pay, make him work, and simply making the correct play — drawing the protection in and kicking it out. That led to some open pictures, simply being a playmaker.”
Brown completed with a modest 17 factors and two assists within the 125-85 begin of their west coast street journey, nevertheless it was the way by which he crammed the field rating that’s noticeable. 9 of JB’s fourteen shot makes an attempt got here within the paint.
The Warriors are a whirling dervish on either side of the ball; as a substitute of getting caught up in all of the movement and chaos, Brown and the Celtics had been aggressive and deliberate with their bully ball strategy. Drive Curry and Golden State’s smaller guards to defend towards Boston’s larger wings.
We’ve after all seen this killer whale strategy earlier than. In final yr’s championship run, they focused Tyler Herro, Darius Garland, Andrew Nembhard, and Kyrie Irving. In the event that they’re going to harm you on protection, the Celtics made sure to make them really feel it on offense.
The query is whether or not or not they’ll proceed to do that on the highest stage towards championship contenders.
Regardless of their league-leading protection, the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder have holes. We’ve already seen Brown hunt Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and also you higher imagine that if these two meet within the Finals in June, that’s going to be a vulnerability the Celtics will take full benefit of.
