I think your #1 is a major key, but I would extend that to all of their players as well, Durant and Thompson in particular.AbeVigodaLive wrote:Bush4Ever wrote:How would you all gameplan against their offense?
I don't even know how I would start to approach it, hypothetically.
1. Body Curry. Beat him up. Does it work with Durant there instead of Barnes? Probably not. But at least there's a precedent. Cleveland leaned on him, chipped him, pressured him, et al and it finally paid off. Personally, I think there were other extenuating factors that played into that 3-game losing streak, but it's worth a chance to try to replicate what hurt the Warriors in the past.
2. Outscore them. Easier said than done. But just make it a track meet and hope for your guys to be hotter than their guys. This is really just a way of saying I really would want to see a Houston vs. GSW series. It would be incredibly entertaining for people who dig offense. And if Harden is the best player on the court (possible) and Houston's shooters get hot (possible) and Beverley intentionally injures Curry's knee (possible)...
3. Hope. Hope Blake Griffin plays 10x better than last night and is the best player in the league for a two-week stretch vs. GSW in the playoffs. Hope that the Warriors go cold for two weeks collectively (worked for Cleveland). Hope that Pau Gasol finds a way to play like it's 2009. Hope that Durant, Curry and/or Green get injured.
In addition to being dynamic scorers, Curry, Durant, and Thompson have another thing in common-- none of them are physically over-powering.
I think the best strategy would be to do what Jerry Sloan's Jazz teams always did over the years-- consistently push the boundaries on what is a foul and what isn't. At the end of the day, the officials aren't going to call a foul on every play, so the more you encourage your team to grab, pull, bump, etc., the higher you raise the threshold for what is and isn't a foul in any given game.
When you're facing a team that moves, shoots, and passes so well, you want to raise said threshold as high as you possibly can. Of course, while raising this threshold you're going to be called for a good number of fouls, and they're going to hit their FT's and still score a ton of points. So be it. What you potentially prevent is them ever getting into one of those video game rhythms were they hang 20+ on you in 2-3 minutes.
If you prevent them from having any of those "super runs," you have a puncher's chance.