And it seems that Lebron himself agrees after witnessing this epic game from Curry.
But is this all Boston’s fault and punishment for their bad defensive strategy?
Let me explain. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it.
What do you think, Is this bad defense? Smart is pressuring him at the half court line, the dubs screen and now Tatum switches on Steph at the logo. Jayson is literally guarding him right here because he doesn’t want to give up a logo three pointer. WHAT?!
Another screen, and as Tatum is trying to recover, Horford is as high up as he’s been for the entire series. Hand is up, trying to contest a shot from 35 feet out. And it still goes in.
So was it because of bad defense? Absolutely not. This is as good as you can play him.
If Horford takes just one more step out, Curry would have easily blown by him and this is a 3 on 2 situation at the basket with both guys cutting.
So, would you rather give up a shot at the rim or a contested 35 footer?
Here is a similar situation. Another high screen, and Brown tries to get back to Curry, while Horford is way out here trying to contain Steph. But watch the jab here that sends big Al back and then the stepback from the finals logo. Nothing but the bottom of the net.
With both of these shots as funny as it is to say it but the Celtics have Curry right where they want him. Taking contested shots literally from half court. And he still makes them.
It’s pick your poison from these shots, to this. The angle is a bit bad for breakdown but you see that as soon as he passes half court, Smart picks him up and Wiggins comes up for a pick again, and Horford is much higher here. But this time Curry rejects the screen and surprises everyone, so then Al has no chance whatsoever as Steph turns on the jets and speeds by the big man for an easy layup. Do you see now the easy bucket that you give up by doing this?
And it happens again on this play. Look at how easy he gets to the paint, and this could be an uncontested floater, the lob to Looney, which admittedly is a bit risky, or what he opts for- the kick out to Payton. But the trick is that a soon as the attention is shifted there he does his patented relocation sprint, and this is his signature move for getting open threes and of course this is a swish.
It happened against the much more athletic Williams as well. Curry shakes and bakes, and this time it’s that floater that I mentioned and he drops it in.
At this point you may be saying: Well just blitz him, take the ball away from him early at any cost. And Boston tried that as well.
In transition you can see Steph trying to hunt Williams but both Brown and Tatum chase him out of sheer desperation to not leave Rob on him, and they don’t even look at other players.
So in this situation, with 2 guys on him he simply bounces it to Klay Thompson and this is a practice shot for Klay in rhythm…bang.
And late in the game as well the blitz is high up but Steph lobs it to Green and this is literally the play that Golden State won their 3 championships. Draymond and a second guy playing 2 on 1 at the rim off of Curry’s double teams.
So he flips it to Looney inside and the finish.
So let’s go back to the drop coverage that’s been heavily criticized for Boston.
Williams probably should have had his hand up here, but as we stop it here this is still a tremendously difficult shot by Curry, with White all over him, and this is a successful defensive strategy against literally any other player in the league. This is good defense and you want the opposing players to take shots like these, I mean this is with a hand in his face here. And It didn’t matter.
So as we all have criticized Boston, including myself admittedly- we have to stop and think about what’s the best option for defending Steph. And honestly this is it.
You always hear analysts say
Well the Celtics are doing just that, playing the percentages and hoping for the best. If Steph Curry can’t sustain this blistering hot pace he’s been on so far, with no help from his teammates, the Celtics will win the championship, but this is the greatest shooter of all time, so he could decide to have 2 more of these games, and we all know what happens if he pulls that off.
If you liked this video leave a like for the youtube algorithm and help ya boi out will you? Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.
