Wasn't a fan of all the switching, and overplaying at halfcourt on CP3 tonight

[TD 21]

It just wont work. Shooting 33% on 3's is as good as shooting 50% on 2's. And you bet Curry will shoot an absurd amount better if you go under the screen. He is currently shooting at about 45%.

Obviously, there's no guarantees. Of course, this could blow up in the Spurs' face and if it does, they can adjust.

But like I said, it's clear at this point that the same old stuff isn't going to get it done. So the rest of the elite teams can either concede the championship or attempt to do something about it.

[SAGirl]

The "zone" against Cavs in the whole 3rd quarter, the "switching" against Clips...What unique and innovative strategies! The Spurs hired a defensive coach like Messina to help Pop/Spurs build the architecture for a new defense, right? Amazing job

The zone was in a game we had no centers whatsoever, Timmy out with sore knee, Lamarcus out, and also in serious foul trouble.

The switches in the Clippers game were not the worst of it. WE got killed on PnR as always with that team. Tony got scored on by P.Pierce maybe 3 times.. it was not the whole game... now the the lobs were a killer I cannot even count how many we got... and obviously Danny and Simmons were run through screens fail!!!

[tbdog]

Obviously, there's no guarantees. Of course, this could blow up in the Spurs' face and if it does, they can adjust.

But like I said, it's clear at this point that the same old stuff isn't going to get it done. So the rest of the elite teams can either concede the championship or attempt to do something about it.

There hasn't been a player since prime shaq that makes a team readjust their entire defense like Curry does. Purely going under a screen is not even a solution. There are only a few guards in the NBA where you can go under a screen. Curry will hit 40%+ a few meters outside the 3 point line. It is hard to change your defensive strategy during the regular season. In the playoffs, you just gonna have to trust the coaches to come up with the best solution at stopping the team get what they want.

[r0drig0lac]

starting Kyle as pointguard

[Chinook]

The Spurs are just going to have to let Paul try to beat him by himself. Just play him straight up without help or switching. CP3 isn't dropping 50 on anybody, and if you take away his assists, he'll tire out.

As far as Curry, I really do think the secret is playing Kawhi on Draymond and Green on Curry (and LMA on Barnes). That way, you you just switch that PnR. Let Draymond try to win a game posting up good defenders, or let Barnes try to win by taking LMA off the dribble. If you start Kyle at the four, it makes the switching even easier. I think he'll be able to cover Curry a lot better than people are expecting, as he has Kawhi's length and Green's timing.

GS might start screening with Bogut, but obviously, you just hedge hard in that case and let the Aussie try to beat you.

[TD 21]

There hasn't been a player since prime shaq that makes a team readjust their entire defense like Curry does. Purely going under a screen is not even a solution. There are only a few guards in the NBA where you can go under a screen. Curry will hit 40%+ a few meters outside the 3 point line. It is hard to change your defensive strategy during the regular season. In the playoffs, you just gonna have to trust the coaches to come up with the best solution at stopping the team get what they want.

Again, no one said anything about it being a solution; it's an idea and obviously, I wouldn't do it during the regular season.

[YGWHI]

The zone was in a game we had no centers whatsoever, Timmy out with sore knee, Lamarcus out, and also in serious foul trouble.

If you lose your big guys, don't employ for the rest of the game a strategy that try to compensate for the lack of centers neutralizing your best perimeter defender. If one of your best defenders really bothers and has a statistical impact on the best opposing player, don't ruin it.

You use zone in specific situations for a few minutes to get your opponent out of rhythm. The strategy helps to hide some weaknesses on defense but if you don't mix things up and play pressure man-to-man in the perimeter and also collapse in the paint to avoid dribble-penetration and force outside shots, that zone neutralize the one-on-one defense of most defenders and the other teams adjust very quickly, that's why you can't play zone for entire quarters/games.

LeBron scored just 8 points in the first half then in the 3rd quarter scored most of his 29 points on Patty and Manu...It didn't work.

The switches in the Clippers game were not the worst of it. WE got killed on PnR as always with that team. Tony got scored on by P.Pierce maybe 3 times.. it was not the whole game... now the the lobs were a killer I cannot even count how many we got... and obviously Danny and Simmons were run through screens fail!!!

And all these things don't make you think why the Pop/Messina can't hide their PGs on defense? Or why they can't employ a new strategy to beat the screens? The Spurs have two of the best perimeter defenders in the league but can't guard guys running through screens...With that talent on defense, a better strategy would help...

[SAGirl]

Kawhi didn't play the last Clippers game. I think Pop is still trying different things which is what the RS is for, as well as trying different personnel, but in both cases you have a weak point bc the availability of personnel already limited the available options.

[YGWHI]

Kawhi played in the last playoffs and the Spurs had the same problem with Clippers double-high-screens...

[SAGirl]

Kawhi played in the last playoffs and the Spurs had the same problem with Clippers double-high-screens...

Now you are changing the subject.