Stephen Curry, unlike the Greek mythological Titan Atlas, was not accused of supporting the weight of the heavens. But as the face of the franchise and its undisputed best player, Golden State Warriors‘The world had to fall on his 34-year-old shoulder.
The name “Atlas” itself fits in with what Curry achieved in Game 4. NBA Finals.. Curry has discovered the inner strength and strength for the Warriors to win the Roadwin in a highly hostile environment. He gave instructions to the team when everything seemed to be lost. His adventurous shots resented generations stuck in the past and paved the way for the NBA. Now they are offering the Warriors a way forward. Boston Celtics It was on the verge of sniffing it.
Draymond Green had the worst playoff series in his career. Klay Thompson’s inefficiency was sticking out like a pain in his thumb. Andrew Wiggins has stepped up to the role that Green and Thompson should play with a double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds.
However, it remains questionable whether Wiggins’ being the Warriors’ most consistent non-curry warriors is sufficient for the Warriors to win the championship. They will need more from Green and Thompson — they made some important plays in Game 4, but overall consistency must be the name of the game.
Curry was arguably the best player in these finals. His huge 43-point performance to save the Warriors from a potential 3-1 hole — 26 shots (7-of-12 on 2 and 7-of-14 on 3) and 71.8% True Shooting — is a string Each of the latest was a performance that deserves its own place in history. But this, of course, claims a higher hierarchy within the Pantheon.
The zoomed out view of this series provides a greater perspective and greater appreciation for what Curry has done. In four final games, he averaged 34.3 points in another-world shooting splits: 50/49/86. His 66.4% True Shooting was reminiscent of his unanimous MVP campaign and marked 66.9% True Shooting.
Curry breaks the traditional notion of what good defense is. His presence pushes defense to the limit — and it includes the best defense in the Celtics league. And it was a conservative screen-and-roll coverage philosophy.
They remain conservative, even the undisputed best shooter of all time, who can be shot down in many ways. The Celtics cleverly shut down the Warriors’ complex attacks, almost nullifying them with a combination of rich switching, tenacious screen navigation, and dominant rim protection.
The Celtics proverbial armor cracks are smaller than most others, but curry is good at piercing those holes and threading needles.
There are many demands for proven defenses this season, but the Celtics need to be pristine and perfect to contain the curry. Even the slightest revocation burned them.
The Warriors didn’t get much from the patented low-post split action, but Curry managed to drill three out of one. Most teams that have a pulse on this action raise the screener defender to crowd the curry space, but the Celtics are on the ball to catch up with the curry and do the congestion themselves. I trust the Defender’s screen navigation chops.
But the Celtics’ belief in Derrick White above is misguided (in this case, at least — White is an elite screen navigator). Robert Williams III stopped by comfortably and saw his teammates slightly behind and driven by another Curry 3 mere spectator.
Even the classic Curry relocation sacrificed the Celtics. The Celtics were otherwise good at keying Curry’s off-ball Shenanigan.
Please note that the above possession was caused by a forced switch to Al Horford. The curry was easily blown off by Horford, two feet into the paint, and forced to help Grant Williams. Curry kicks out to Gary Payton II at the corner, and Williams thinks the threat has been contained and is one step behind Curry’s move to the corner.
It’s a common story that the Celtics hesitate to attack Curry and commit to two bodies that force him to cough the ball. They prefer not to release Curry’s ball screen partner (often the green) to a position of numerical strength against the backline. If they can help it, they will stay home on their mission, contain the on-ball action of Curry and take advantage of the results.
Even though the Celtics are learning their lessons by being burned by multiple curry pullups against deep drops of different levels, the immense range of curry raises their screen level meetups by one. I did.
The concept of the screen-level social gathering itself is more aggressive than traditional drops, but relatively more conservative than full doubles and traps, but distorted by the talent of Curry’s generation. If the on-ball defender is 0.5 seconds behind the screen, Curry’s Lightning Release allows the ball to be quickly removed from the hand, rendering a larger ball even when playing higher than normal. .. has no effect.
(Lowest common denominator of the above possession: Horford. The Warriors made Horford a targeted pressure point. If the Celtics didn’t commit the two to the ball, they would step up Horford, make a choice, and make a choice. Defend. Space.)
Curry’s Shotmaking Shine peaked in a game where it had to be almost perfect. If some shots turned left or right, fell below the mark, or had too many ups and downs behind, the result of the game would have been different. However, Curry added the right amount of touch to find her own mark.
And when Curry put the Celtics on his heels-when all the conservative coverage that the Celtics tried to throw at him was thrown back on their faces-they blinked.
It’s a rare sight, but it’s an attempt to prevent the Celtics from happening. Curry draws two bodies around the green screen and hits the ball green with a short roll. This creates a virtual 2: 1 where Horford is stuck in an uninhabited land. Green throws it away to Looney. Rooney completes and creates a 5-point cushion with 1 minute remaining.
It’s still unclear if the Celtics will continue to flash with more doubles in the curry coverage. The safe answer is that they don’t — their confidence in their on-ball defenders is high enough that they live in ridiculous curry shotmaking and hope everything else goes well. ..
However, Curry is picking and rolling and raising huge numbers. According to InStat, 43% of his possessions in the finals are related to the ball screen, which is 16% higher than the frequency of pick and roll in the normal season. He earns 1.23 points (PPP) for each of his possessions in such play — and he does so against transcendental defense units.
There are more hurdles to jump over. The Celtics do not roll over and tolerate. They will find a corresponding way, make up for their shortcomings, and find a way to stay throbbing at the pressure points they specify themselves. Curry may have to repeat this performance — or his support cast will have to improve their performance.
But the facts remain. Curry is advancing to what was considered an unlikely series stop for the team built to defeat them on every turn. In itself, it’s a big achievement that deserves praise.
If there was any suspicion that he wasn’t a performer on the most spectacular stage of all of them, that suspicion must now be gone. Curry is made to carry the burden of being a game giant, worthy of being considered one of the best games ever played.
Heavy is a crowned head, but if the weight of responsibility is the price Curry has to pay, if that means another championship to add to his extensive list of praises, he I am willing to bear the cost.
