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Even on the verge of turning 37, Steph Curry is still an amazing player. His offensive manipulation of space on the floor combined with a mastery of his own gravity and timing makes him a basketball wizard. In Monday’s blowout, he still led the Warriors in scoring with 18 points and four assists, but he may have given that all back on defense.
Of the four major American sports, basketball is the one that forces you the most to play both sides of the ball. What Curry gives you on offense, his 6’2 frame takes away on D.
“First play of the game, Curry deflected a pass and I thought we made a conscious effort to be more physical with our post attacks, whether it was Curry, [Buddy] Hield, and [Moses] Moody at times,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said after his Celtics doubled up their hosts 52-to-26 in the paint.
“I thought that compromised their defense a little bit and we were able to take advantage of that. I thought the physicality of our deep post catches vs. their smalls was impactful and we found different ways to get to that — whether it was JB, whether it was JT, whether it was KP. I thought JB did a good job setting that tone from a physicality standpoint.”
“Just being aggressive and just being physical. I’m guarding him, so chasing him around, but on the defensive end, making him pay as well,” Jaylen Brown said. “Anytime we were in transition, we were crossmatched and he was on me, I’m trying to just make him pay, make him work, and just making the right play — drawing the defense in and kicking it out. That led to some open shots, just being a playmaker.”
Brown finished with a modest 17 points and two assists in the 125-85 start of their west coast road trip, but it was the manner in which he filled the box score that’s noticeable. Nine of JB’s fourteen shot attempts came in the paint.
The Warriors are a whirling dervish on both sides of the ball; instead of getting caught up in all the motion and chaos, Brown and the Celtics were aggressive and deliberate with their bully ball approach. Force Curry and Golden State’s smaller guards to defend against Boston’s bigger wings.
We’ve of course seen this killer whale approach before. In last year’s championship run, they targeted Tyler Herro, Darius Garland, Andrew Nembhard, and Kyrie Irving. If they’re going to hurt you on defense, the Celtics made certain to make them feel it on offense.
The question is whether or not they can continue to do this at the highest level against championship contenders.
Despite their league-leading defense, the Oklahoma City Thunder have holes. We’ve already seen Brown hunt Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and you better believe that if these two meet in the Finals in June, that’s going to be a vulnerability the Celtics will take full advantage of.
