Stephen Curry has been too aggressive on the defensive end the first four games against the Clippers. His foul trouble must come to and end or Warriors will be in trouble.
Klay, Dray, Looney and Iggy are standing with their hands on their knees. They are waiting. Waiting for Durant to either shoot or pass the ball. Without Stephen Curry on the court, the offense, at times, become stagnant.
Everything slows down when Curry sits. Sometimes Livingston takes the ball and does something – at other times Draymond or Iguodala will rush the ball up the court. But when the game is tight – Durant will get the ball. And then it’s isolation!
Curry has been way too aggressive the first four games in the series against the Clippers. Some of the fouls have made the superstar look perplexed. But, reviewing the situations showed that any Curry fury was not justified.
Curry is ahead when it comes to fouls. The All Star-players have distributed their fouls during the four playoff games like this:
Steph Curry 17 pf
Kevin Durant 14 pf
Draymond Green 12 pf
Klay Thompson 8 pf
Curry himself stated: “I need to continue to focus on it – good call or bad call, I need to not put myself in bad positions”.
And he is right! If Curry gets in a bad position, the team gets in a bad position. Curry helps stretch the floor like no other Warrior or NBA player can, and he makes the game easier for everybody. If he must sit the game gets slowed down dramatically and shots get tougher.
Curry is needed on the floor and if he has to defend with his hands on the back so be it! He has already done it a couple of times in the Warriors first-round series.
The Warriors must have a certain amount of concern here. What if teams learn from this? How will Curry in collaboration with coach Kerr prevent teams from taking advantage from Curry’s fouling issues?
We may have an answer after game 5 tonight in Oracle Arena.