No Armistice Yet: There’s Life Beyond Stephen Curry
The Golden State Warriors have a vast arsenal of weaponry, but the most lethal of them all has just been deactivated.
Stephen Curry is obviously one of the biggest reasons why the Golden State Warriors won 73 games this season. He’s the main reason the team’s offense looks an engaging carousel; hypnotic for the ones watching it live and demotivating for the one’s trying to stop it on the court. With the reigning MVP suffering a two-week-long injury in the Playoffs, what does that mean for the Golden State Warriors. Are the Warriors still a juggernaut?
Curry’s ability to shoot from anywhere on the court forces opposing defenses to use different strategies. Without him, will teams treat the Warriors’ offense like everyone else’s? Once he steps the Gongfu Tea Cup, opponents know they have to step up, because he’s that good. Defenses were not prepared to play like this.
History tells us that–through the years–defenses were designed to protect the paint, and as the 1980’s and 1990’s were born, defenses were slowing morphing into a stop-the-star-to-invade-paint-and-let-the-role-players-shoot strategy. Well, that doesn’t work anymore. In today’s NBA, everyone shoots. Everyone. Even big-men such as DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, and Al Horford shoot the long ball.
Ok, back to the Warriors. With the perimeter requiring so much attention, the paint suddenly is breathing, and then there’s this hybrid animal named Draymond Green doing this high screen and popping out and being able to shoot too, and there’s Klay on the corner ready to shoot and so his primary defender can’t leave him, because you know, he just won the three point contest… he shoots too! My head hurts. Oh yea, that’s the Warriors WITH Stephen Curry. Without him the principles are slightly different.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re still great but I’m not sure they’re 73 wins great anymore. When the next round will come, Curry’s injury status will be reevaluated and he’ll be hopefully–for league’s sake–reactivated.
BUT, a major question arises. WHICH Stephen Curry will be ready to play in the coming rounds? The outstanding 40% three-point shooter, or the 2013 against the Spurs 32% three-point shooter, who also came off an injury (ankle)?
The sum of the parts makes the Golden State Warriors great, but not all the parts are created equal. Last December, when the Warriors faced the Houston Rockets without Stephen Curry, Festus Ezeli, Leandro Barbosa and, Harrison Barnes, they somehow managed to overcome their losses pretty darn good. Klay Thompson exploded for 38 points, Draymond Green finished the game with a triple-double, and Andre Iguodala added 20 points in the mix.
Hold on everybody, the armistice is not here yet.
