Was it poor strategy for Cle to continually trap Curry at near half court?

[Akhenaten]

I was surprised the level of respect they were showing him, a lot of people will take this as hyperbole but they committed to getting the ball out of Curry's hand the same way team's used to commit to getting out of prime Shaq's hand.

I AM DEAD SERIOUS and no I'm not equating Steph to prime Shaq, I'm saying this is how Cleveland was guarding him.

GS ENTIRE half court offense in this series was a Curry/Draymond pick and roll damn near at midcourt which Cle trapped every time then Steph would pass to the roll guy (most times Draymond) who would then be playing 4 on 3 basketball with the ball in the middle of the court.

Cleveland completely sold out/compromised their defense to get the ball out dude hands which made the game like ABC for the other guys. There's no bigger impact in the game than an offensive player so feared that a defense is willing to completely sell out even as his other teammates get practice shots. Barbosa/Green/Barnes/Iggy kept getting BUTTNAKED jumpshot, after buttnaked jumpshot.

when they stayed home on the shooters, Draymond had driving lanes the size of texas to either go all the way or make a dropoff/lob pass.


That was GSW ENTIRE (no hyperbole Im dead serious when I say ENTIRE) half court offense. I dont know if it was bad strategy on Cleveland's part, but to me there's nothing Igoudala or anyone could contribute on defense that equals that. Also I dont think Cleveland would guard any other PG that way, dude is just so unique of a player.

Would Cleveland had been better served using a more traditional approach, because the way how they continued to guard Curry completely stretched out their defense.

Trapping, especially that far away from the basket is something IMO that should be done sparingly and using the surprise element. Choosing to guard to Steph like he was Shaq on the perimetre made the game WAAAAY to easy for GSW role players.

[MP.Trey]

I'd rather give a mediocre 3 point shooter wide open shots, than the GOAT shooter decent shots.

[navy]

Hindsight. Delly legit ha Curry shook for a while.

Yes. They should have left Shumpert on him after Game 4 as well.

However the warriors offense wasnt that good when they were in the halfcourt. Cleveland just needed more bodies after Delly fatigued.

[Jameerthefear]

That was legitimately the only way Cleveland could win

[Kvnzhangyay]

Cleveland's defense was fine. It's just outside of Lebron NO ONE could create on offense

[warriorfan]

I was surprised the level of respect they were showing him, a lot of people will take this as hyperbole but they committed to getting the ball out of Curry's hand the same way team's used to commit to getting out of prime Shaq's hand.

I AM DEAD SERIOUS and no I'm not equating Steph to prime Shaq, I'm saying this is how Cleveland was guarding him.

GS ENTIRE half court offense in this series was a Curry/Draymond pick and roll damn near at midcourt which Cle trapped every time then Steph would pass to the roll guy (most times Draymond) who would then be playing 4 on 3 basketball with the ball in the middle of the court.

Cleveland completely sold out/compromised their defense to get the ball out dude hands which made the game like ABC for the other guys. There's no bigger impact in the game than an offensive player so feared that a defense is willing to completely sell out even as his other teammates get practice shots. Barbosa/Green/Barnes/Iggy kept getting BUTTNAKED jumpshot, after buttnaked jumpshot.

when they stayed home on the shooters, Draymond had driving lanes the size of texas to either go all the way or make a dropoff/lob pass.


That was GSW ENTIRE (no hyperbole Im dead serious when I say ENTIRE) half court offense. I dont know if it was bad strategy on Cleveland's part, but to me there's nothing Igoudala or anyone could contribute on defense that equals that. Also I dont think Cleveland would guard any other PG that way, dude is just so unique of a player.

Would Cleveland had been better served using a more traditional approach, because the way how they continued to guard Curry completely stretched out their defense.

Trapping, especially that far away from the basket is something IMO that should be done sparingly and using the surprise element. Choosing to guard to Steph like he was Shaq on the perimetre made the game WAAAAY to easy for GSW role players.

Agreed 100%

[bdreason]

Normally I would agree. Trapping a perimeter player, consistently, that far away from the hoop... is suicide. However, when the Cavs did try to guard Steph 1 v 1 (or trapped poorly), mostly late in the game, he completely torched them. As soon as a big had to switch on to Curry? It was goodnight.

[Jacks3]

It's not like Warriors had some sort of great offensive series. Their ORTG was 107.3 which is still good, but far below their reg season level, and they turned Curry into a turnover machine (17.3% turnover rate). Their defense was more than good enough to win. It was their horrifically bad offense that cost them the series. Seriously, 99.6 ORTG is unbelievably bad.

[raprap]

It was their only chance, but after gsw figured it out, I would have mixed it up a little. Maybe a full court press to quickly get it out of Stephs hands and then just try to deny him the ball.

[I<3NBA]

the tactic was fine. all throughout the series, Cavs dictated the tempo and were able to slow down GSW. it was only the 4th quarters that they were losing. it was very obvious that the Cavs had no gas left at the end of every game.

[Xiengqichess]

First, Lebron did not want Curry to outplay him.
Second, Curry sinks couple of three on the row when the big switches.

[Bobcats2013]

Spurs and Clippers did it and they won. So no.

[SyRyanYang]

Spurs and Clippers did it and they won. So no.
They didn't do it on every possession and they were the better teams anyways.

[dreamwarrior]

The Cavs did the right thing. They should've won this series, but that's not gonna happen when your star player shoots 28% from beyond 5ft.

[Rocketswin2013]

Normally I would agree. Trapping a perimeter player, consistently, that far away from the hoop... is suicide. However, when the Cavs did try to guard Steph 1 v 1 (or trapped poorly), mostly late in the game, he completely torched them. As soon as a big had to switch on to Curry? It was goodnight.
Mozgov's traps were bad all series. He would get to a point, then become stationary and not pressure him. Shit was infuriating.

[FKAri]

The series went 6 games. Nobody predicted even that. Whatever they did; it worked.

[I<3NBA]

The series went 6 games. Nobody predicted even that. Whatever they did; it worked.
no it didn't. "almost" is not the same as "did."

[Inferno]

The series went 6 games. Nobody predicted even that. Whatever they did; it worked.

Worked for like a game and a half :confusedshrug:

[knicksman]

if only bran was this good after 12 years, he wouldnt be 2/6. Yet all we hear are no help excuses.

[FKAri]

no it didn't. "almost" is not the same as "did."

They won two games. If you think there is a defensive strategy that would have won them the series then you're a lost cause.

[HurricaneKid]

I was surprised the level of respect they were showing him, a lot of people will take this as hyperbole but they committed to getting the ball out of Curry's hand the same way team's used to commit to getting out of prime Shaq's hand.

I AM DEAD SERIOUS and no I'm not equating Steph to prime Shaq, I'm saying this is how Cleveland was guarding him.

GS ENTIRE half court offense in this series was a Curry/Draymond pick and roll damn near at midcourt which Cle trapped every time then Steph would pass to the roll guy (most times Draymond) who would then be playing 4 on 3 basketball with the ball in the middle of the court.

Cleveland completely sold out/compromised their defense to get the ball out dude hands which made the game like ABC for the other guys. There's no bigger impact in the game than an offensive player so feared that a defense is willing to completely sell out even as his other teammates get practice shots. Barbosa/Green/Barnes/Iggy kept getting BUTTNAKED jumpshot, after buttnaked jumpshot.

when they stayed home on the shooters, Draymond had driving lanes the size of texas to either go all the way or make a dropoff/lob pass.


That was GSW ENTIRE (no hyperbole Im dead serious when I say ENTIRE) half court offense. I dont know if it was bad strategy on Cleveland's part, but to me there's nothing Igoudala or anyone could contribute on defense that equals that. Also I dont think Cleveland would guard any other PG that way, dude is just so unique of a player.

Would Cleveland had been better served using a more traditional approach, because the way how they continued to guard Curry completely stretched out their defense.

Trapping, especially that far away from the basket is something IMO that should be done sparingly and using the surprise element. Choosing to guard to Steph like he was Shaq on the perimetre made the game WAAAAY to easy for GSW role players.

This is pretty good for what passes for analysis around here.

The problem is that they didn't just DOUBLE him 40 feet from the hoop. GSW presented a 5/1 PnR. The Cavs had the option of switching it or doubling it. When they switched it Mozzy/TT was backed into an island. This is why Mozzy didn't play more (esp G5). TT did as well as you could hope but it still wasn't good enough.

So Cle had to trap. And for a while Curry was turning the ball over at a high enough clip as to make it effective. But eventually Curry did what he was supposed to do. Get the two defenders to commit then back up, get the ball to the open man who then has a 4 on 3. This player is almost uniformly Green. Curry is so dangerous that he got Green a max contract because he always gets the ball attacking a 4 on 3. There are a LOT of guys that could succeed with those opportunities.

Shooting destroys a defense's ability to shade off players. And thats what happened to close out the series. Cle wasn't going to let Curry go 1 on 1 with their C. And when they presented the same defense against Curry he figured out a way to crush it. They gambled that Iggy wasn't a good enough shooter with no one on him and he was.

Which is why the MVP was so comical to me. The Cavs defensive strategy was to hide immobile defenders on him and refused to guard him. how can the weak link be the FMVP?

[Akhenaten]

Which is why the MVP was so comical to me. The Cavs defensive strategy was to hide immobile defenders on him and refused to guard him. how can the weak link be the FMVP?


Exactly, I couldn't believe it but then I thought about it, it's really the media's way of giving Lebron a consolation prize more than it is awarding Iggy.

There are more ways to play a 1/5 pnr than just switching or trapping though, the way how they chose to play Steph this series clearly makes him the FMVP, him putting up solid numbers on top of that makes it a robbery that he didn't get it.

[HurricaneKid]

Exactly, I couldn't believe it but then I thought about it, it's really the media's way of giving Lebron a consolation prize more than it is awarding Iggy.

There are more ways to play a 1/5 pnr than just switching or trapping though, the way how they chose to play Steph this series clearly makes him the FMVP, him putting up solid numbers on top of that makes it a robbery that he didn't get it.

You can try to hedge. But very few bigs can force back a PG.

You can go underneath the pick but that simply isn't an option with Curry.

You can try to stretch it out and switch back but Curry was just splitting it and getting all the way to the basket.

You can bring over a 3rd defender but then you are leaving a corner open and Barnes, et al were crushing that shot.

So you are left with two options. And neither were any good.

When a defense essentially puts two guys on you and zero guys on someone else, its pretty evident who scares them and who they are attempting to force into taking more shots. You could watch a montage of all Iggy's plays and not see him well defended more than a few times. You could make a montage of Curry's points and it would be a highlight film.