BOSTON — After three NBA titles, after two MVP awards, after more than $250 million in career earnings, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry has heard yet another variation of the same criticism: You are a bad defender.
Never mind that it has steadily improved at this end of the floor over the past few years. To prove how far he’s come from his hidden days on complementary shooters away from the action, Curry had to make life difficult on the top performing wings in the biggest moments.
Two games into those Finals, he didn’t just do that — he proved to be one of the Warriors’ most important defenders. Curry’s basketball IQ, quick hands and extra volume make it a tricky game every time the Celtics attack him in pick-and-roll, which presents quite a conundrum: who Boston can exploit defensively. when Jordan Poole is on the bench?
The playoffs are about eliminating any tactical advantage. Since the Warriors accelerated the rise of quick-change defenses eight years ago, offenses across the league have increasingly countered by chasing mismatches.
Curry has long been a prime target for pick-and-rolls — not just because he was Golden State’s weakest defender, but because teams could wear him down and affect his offense. Now that Curry is solid defensively, opposing coaches often struggle to find easy looks when Poole is off the field.
“Teams used to try to call Steph in every action and try to go after him, but that doesn’t work anymore,” forward Draymond Green said. “He’s able to hold on, so you can’t get him out of position, and that’s been huge for us. I’m not shocked that he’s playing that type of defence.
In addition to Curry, the Warriors’ starting lineup includes an elite perimeter defenseman (Andrew Wiggins), one of the league’s top stoppers (Green), a dependable position defenseman (Kevon Looney) and a former draft pick. of the All-Defensive Team. trying to regain his old form after two serious injuries (Klay Thompson). Off the bench, Golden State boasts the relentless Gary Payton II and shrewd Otto Porter Jr.
With limited weaknesses to expose in the Warriors defense, the Celtics have been susceptible to offensive droughts. After Jayson Tatum hit a 3-pointer with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter of Game 2 on Sunday to cut Boston’s deficit to six, the Celtics looked overwhelmed as they committed turnovers, threw ill-advised shots and landed on the wrong side. from a series of 19-2.
Although Green was the driving force behind that dominant defensive stretch, Curry did his part by disrupting passing lanes, calling reads and covering Tatum or Jaylen Brown on pick-and-rolls. At one point, Curry moved on to Boston guard Derrick White, muscled through a screen, and stuck tightly to White long enough for the Celtics to settle for a contested 3-point try from Marcus Smart as the clock ran out. shootings.
After center Al Horford grabbed the offensive rebound, Curry barely moved as the much taller Horford tried to post it. Unable to find an open shot, Horford attempted to pass to teammate Grant Williams, only for Curry to steal the ball.
It was just one of many memorable defensive streaks Curry had in the Warriors’ third-quarter blitz, but it illustrated just how formidable he’d become at that end of the field. Gone are the days of Curry getting bullied on the low block or doing silly reads. Now one of the smartest and most physically strong players on the Warriors, he’s rarely in the wrong place on the court.
His understanding of angles and spacing has made him a reliable defender on the assist side. Instead of reaching out and blowing whistles, Curry remained patient.
His 2 fouls per game in the regular season are tied for the second-fewest of his career. Given that his scoring gets so much attention, few people might have noticed that Curry ranked second in the NBA in defensive win shares — a stat that measures how many projected wins a player adds to his defense.
“That’s always been a big point in trying to win basketball games and do your job,” Curry said of the defense. “During my career it’s a physical development that’s happened over time which obviously helps, a lot of work has gone into that.
“But at the end of the day, from my rookie year until now, it’s always been about effort and just a care factor, overcoming physical limitations with matches or whatever. If you try hard, good things will happen.
This is all true, but few could have predicted when Curry left Davidson that he would one day become a quality defender – or, for that matter, even an above average defender. Curry said he was horrible on this side of the court early in his NBA career.
Lightly framed and not particularly physical, he was relegated mostly to guarding spot-up shooters in the corner. When Curry asked then-Warriors head coach Mark Jackson in the fall of 2013 to let him defend his position, Jackson told Curry, “I appreciate your confidence, but you’re not not ready.”
Curry’s defensive shortcomings became more glaring as the league moved toward heavy defenses. Desperate to attack lags in the playoffs, opponents have made them their go-to target in pick-and-rolls.
Since 2013-14, Curry has been targeted for 31.6 pick-and-rolls per 100 playoff possessions — a far cry from the 4.1 pick-and-rolls he faced during the regular season. That 27.5 peak from regular season to playoffs is easily the highest difference of any NBA player.
Even though Curry has made some defensive progress in recent years, his opponents have continued to attack him on pick-and-rolls. The 42.4 pick-and-rolls per 100 possessions he faced against Dallas in the final round was 6.1 more than any other player in the Conference Finals.
Part of that was because the Mavericks wanted to wear Curry down, but maybe it was also because they didn’t take him seriously as a defenseman. Defensive upgrades can be difficult to identify. And even though Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has repeatedly gone out of his way to praise Curry’s defense, many people still view Curry as poor at that end of the field.
These finals could finally change that narrative. On the biggest of stages, Curry wasn’t just good defensively — he was superb.
“It can keep 50 screen-and-rolls per game and run 50 screen-and-rolls per game,” Kerr said. “Not many people can do that.”
Connor Letourneau is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]: @Con_Chron
