Golden State Warriors: 3 ways Stephen Curry can improve defensively

3. Use his feet and eyes more effectively

Curry has a nasty habit of committing reach-in fouls . He reaches in hopes of using his anticipation and quick hands to steal the ball. On defense, positioning is half of the battle. So whenever Curry reaches, he loses position which makes it easy for his man to beat him to the basket.

If it isn’t leaving himself vulnerable to offenses in iso, he’s picking up senseless fouls. Curry could gain an edge in position by using the same lateral quickness that he uses on offense on defense. In addition to using his quickness, Curry could read the body language of the man he’s guarding.

Despite his fouls against Houston, Curry’s iso defense wasn’t all that bad. James Harden was 2 for 6 going at Curry head to head. That could have been 1 for 6  if Curry didn’t reach in those sequences.

Instead of focusing on the ball during those iso moments, Curry could focus on the direction of his man’s hips and where his feet are planted and force him into more difficult shots and traps.