Golden State Warriors Game Plan: Beating The Trap vs The Clippers (Photo: AP.org)
Here’s a compendium of various strategy talk about tonight’s 2014 NBA Playoffs Round 1, Game 3 at Oracle Arena between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers…
Zach Lowe of :
He was also pretty good defensively in Game 2, when the Clippers contained the Stephen Curry pick-and-rolls that ate them up in Game 1. And they didn’t really do anything all that differently. They still trapped Curry, though perhaps a hair less aggressively, with the Clips’ bigs mostly coming to the level of the pick instead of chasing Curry toward half court.5 They switched more pick-and-rolls involving Curry and a wing player, and avoided playing Paul, Darren Collison, and Jamal Crawford together in a super-small lineup when Game 2 was actually in play.
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Paul was better chasing Curry over those screens, staying on his hip. The rotations behind the play were tighter as the Clippers scrambled in 3-on-4 situations. The two Clippers bigs switched assignments seamlessly, with instant communication, and the wing defenders shifted in and out on a string. And note how in the last clip here, the Clips manage to force Curry toward the sideline — a smart thing they’ve rarely pulled off:
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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlez8lmH000&w=420&h=315] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS8UN3jBpIo&w=420&h=315] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HOG8XmGDCo&w=420&h=315] .
Sometimes the adjustment is simple: Be better at what you’re doing. The Warriors helped by abandoning some of the stuff they did in Game 1, including those pick-and-rolls in which they cleared one side of the floor for Curry and his screener — a very tough set to defend.
Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Jackson and Curry had similar responses during Tuesday’s practice when asked if the Warriors needed “fundamental” adjustments in their halfcourt offense. A radical alternative would have Steve Blake bringing up the ball — he’s a veteran point guard with no fear of playoff pressure — but that wouldn’t begin to ease the Clippers’ pressure on Curry, and the Warriors can’t afford to take Klay Thompson out of the backcourt. He has played exceptional defense on Chris Paul (especially in Game 1, when Thompson stayed out of foul trouble), and just as Curry needs to restore his identity, so does the Curry-Thompson combination Jackson has called “the greatest outside-shooting backcourt in history.”
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Jackson views it this way: “I didn’t think we fought in Game 2. They were active, they were physical, and we were soft. If you don’t fight against big-time talent, you don’t stand a chance. We’ve seen the trap; we have stuff that counters it. Now we just have to make the proper adjustments. But we have to meet force with force. If you go out there tentative against a really aggressive trap, all of a sudden it’s a different monster you have to battle.”
Carl Steward of the Bay Area News Group:
“I’m sure we’ll make some adjustments to help him stay involved early,” O’Neal said. “Some of it may be just getting him off the ball and making him more of a two guard and put (Andre) Iguodala or Klay (Thompson) on the ball. The NBA playoffs are all about adjustments. (Opponents) are going to try to take your best options away, and the next move is to determine what you can do to make sure your best option is still involved.”
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Both Jackson and O’Neal said the other four Warriors on the floor have to be more aware of the trap and maintain proper court spacing to set up a quick score once Curry does pass out of the trap. Curry, meanwhile, said he has to better anticipate what kind of defensive set the Clippers are in as he brings the ball up the floor.
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He knows it’s probably going to be the trap most of the time, but if he can make the right reads and break it down often enough early in games, it’ll keep L.A. honest. That, he added, will open up more opportunities for his own offense.
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“The plays they trap, with the 24-second clock, once the ball is out, my job’s pretty much done,” he said. “But every possession is not going to be like that. I have to find a way to get more shots, particularly early in the game.”
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