How the Warriors can make things easier for Stephen Curry
SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry is aware that defenses will be keyed in on him more than ever. For all of the reasons many are predicting a staggering offensive campaign from him this season, those same reasons are why the league’s top defensive teams may be able to limit Curry — as the Clippers did Thursday.
After losing wings Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston in the offseason and Klay Thompson to injury, the Warriors will rely on Curry more than ever to score points. The obstacle for Curry, of course, is that opponents know that. In the Warriors’ season-opening loss to the Clippers Thursday,
Curry scored 23 points but was largely inefficient, shooting 8-for-20 overall and missing nine of his 11 3-point attempts. He also had four assists and eight turnovers.
“He’s definitely going to get more attention and you think about who he’s lost along side him, Klay and Kevin, Andre, Shaun, among others. It’s an awful lot of firepower from your teammates to lose, so he understands what he’s going to face,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr after the game. “There’s gonna be more attention to him, more double teams, more trapping and that kind of stuff.”
The Clippers had guards Patrick Beverley and Landry Shamet hound Curry all night. They face guarded him, with the intent of preventing him from getting the ball at all. When he did shake loose, it often led to a contested shot.
Curry missed all seven shots he took with a defender within four feet of him. Last season, Curry shot 36.6 percent on such shots — what NBA.com defines as “tight” or “very tight” coverage. That could be read with optimism, since there should be a return to the mean. However, the fact that more than a third of Curry’s shots were heavily contested is yet another red flag.
The focus, then, should be creating easier shots for Curry. Six of Curry’s made shots were unassisted while only two were assisted (one from forward Draymond Green and another from center Marquese Chriss).
For every three unassisted makes, he got one assisted made field goal. Last season was practically the inverse, with Curry making nearly one-and-a-half assisted shots for every one unassisted shot. Unless something changes from the first game, this trend may foreshadow a season with a much higher degree of difficulty. Curry needs help.
It’s telling that Green and Chriss are the ones who accounted for Curry’s assisted makes. The Warriors plan to run offense through their bigs. Curry will also use them as screeners. On most nights, the following play should result in an open look. But Shamet is developing into a very good defender and, after getting screened by center Kevon Looney, recovers quickly to contest the shot.
There are plays when the lack of spacing is apparent. Like this one.
Curry takes the dribble handoff from guard Jacob Evans. Chriss tries to set several screens, but can’t land contact with Shamet. (Chriss seems to be guessing as to where Curry is going. This is also where the lack of cohesion is apparent.) The Clippers defenders are not at all concerned with Evans or rookie forward Eric Paschall. Had it been Thompson or Durant on the court with Curry, this would look very different.
Curry forces up another contested 3-pointer from several feet beyond the line. Just because Curry can sometimes make these shots does not make it a good one.
None of this is new for Curry. In the NBA Finals, after Durant and Thompson went down, the Raptors deployed a “box-and-one” defense against him — a scheme with one player shadowing Curry and the other four playing zone. Curry figured that out. During the lead up to this season, he anticipated he would see more attention like he did in June and on Thursday.
Curry’s teammates are still learning. This is a much younger and inexperienced team than what Curry and Green are used to. In this next play, Curry makes a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner. It’s a classic give and go, where Curry gives the ball up and then scurries his way into an opening. At first glance, it may look just like a hundred shots Curry made during the Warriors’ championship runs.
But it’s not just like those other shots.
Watch Green in this play. After being thrown the ball, Green knows exactly where Curry is going. Glenn Robinson III, who just signed with the Warriors this past summer, doesn’t.
As Robinson is asking for the ball in the corner, Green is telling him to cut inside. Robinson may be wondering why. He is, after all, wide open, but he does what he’s told. To Robinson’s credit, he sees Curry arriving along the baseline and sets a screen. Curry gets the wide-open shot — the best possible outcome of any Warriors possession this season.
Things like this should get easier over time, and should require less composing from Green. Curry also will shoot better than he did in the Warriors’ first game. The question is: will it be because he’s just making tough shots, or because his teammates are making things easier?