His game Stephen Curry It is a phenomenon in itself. He is an unpredictable force with and without the ball in his hands. Someone able to set it up defending opponent with the simple fact of stepping on the parquet as well as breaking into a thousand pieces sheets and sheets scouting. Stopping him in the daytime is like carrying an umbrella in the middle of a hurricane: the object is right, but the moment is not so much.
The Sacramento Kings They are in a unique and perhaps unrepeatable situation. For the first time in more than 15 years, they qualified for the playoffs with the misfortune ahead of them Golden State Warriors. Or what’s the same, to Steph. If they can make it past the First Round, they could aspire to even reach the Conference Finals, but the current MVP of the last definition of the title won’t make it that easy for them.
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During Game 1, Curry put up good numbers: 30 points, 42.9% on threes, 83.3% from two and +11 with him on the court. However, the Warriors lost. History plays with Golden State and but having someone of Steph’s caliber always leaves room for hope.
Despite his stats, Stephen Curry’s performance was not ideal, or at least to experience a comfortable match. And it was thanks to defense plan hatched by a former coach of his, Mike Brownnow frontman from the band Sacramento Kings.
Brown, always a specialist in the backcourt, responsible for the avant-garde changes that the Warriors have experienced recently and that in these Playoffs he aspires to move to the capital of California to dethrone the current champions.
here it begins “The possession” is a segment in which the NBA Sporting News staff breaks down a specific action from a specific Playoff game, revealing a much bigger meaning behind it than meets the eye.
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The Sacramento Kings plan to stop Stephen Curry
For starters, what do the Kings get up to in this particular project?
This type of defense is known as triangle and two, a strategy that combines individual labeling with zoning. That is, while two defenders are face to face against arguably the best offensive opponents, the other three cover the rest of the space in a zoneusually triangular. There are many and very different ways to do this, especially in the NBA context, because of the rules and the style that is rich and the one in Sacramento was pretty classic.
In the particular instance of this action, the Kings’ defensive arrangement can be perfectly judged, focused on containment Curry first of all already Jordan Poole In the second instance:
After all the action, the balance for the Warriors is two threes Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kumingaso one might think this defense isn’t ideal in a playoff game, right?
Error.
In the highest elite, such as the NBA, it has long been considered that it is better to give high-percentage shots to players who are not particularly smart there than to try to defend everything. As a kind of cost-benefit policy, the priority is to limit the damage that the opposing star can generate while considering the most inconvenient possible scenario.
For figures like Curry, a mixed defense is a tough challenge to overcome, as almost the entire opposing team is focused on minimizing him. That’s where his intelligence and experience come into play, always looking to work with other team-mates without the ball to force the opposition to crack.
Strategies like these take not only Steph out of their comfort zone, but the rest of the Warriors as well. At the same time there are three games in one game: the face-to-face person for double play, the rest 3v3 in the zone and the 5v5 from general shooting.
Here’s how Sacramento was able to pull off a huge win on defense despite its limited capabilities there:
Still, going up a three-and-two like the Kings did has its perils, since it can’t be done all game or in all kinds of situations. In addition, the rest of the Golden State team can have comfortable or freed courts:
So why did Mike Brown last the defense for so long in the second half? Because it worked. Yes, Stephen Curry made 7 of 10 field goals for 20 total points, but the rest of the Warriors were just 41.9% from the field, including a terrible 3 of 21 triples (14.2%).
Therein lies the power and relevance of a strategy like thiswhich allows for situations that in another context could be avoided, but the greater the tension, the greater the chance of success.
Mike Brown He knows the opponent in front of him like few do. He knows how they behave, how they react to any situation and what can do them the most harm. Without going further, Nick Nurse and his coaching staff led the predators to knock in 2019 with that very defense stifling the depleted Warriors offense while Curry excelled.
Adjustments are necessary in the playoffs, and Steve Kerr has always been one of the most brilliant when it comes to making changes during a playoff game. After a 10-point lead in the third quarter, the ball is in the Warriors’ court. Will this risky Kings plan stick or will Curry force them to tweak their script?
The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the NBA or its organizations.
