The Time Steph Curry Was Dared To Shoot In The NBA Finals

In the 2022 finals, the Boston Celtics employed one of the most interesting strategies I'd ever seen, essentially daring Steph Curry to beat them from the 3 point line. Not surprisingly, he had the best playoff series of his career, averaging 31 points while hitting 5 threes a game. At first glance, this sounded like a really dumb strategy, giving the best shooter in the world all that space to fire. But, why did they really employ this, and why did it actually almost work? Coming into the finals, Steph Curry was on a redemption tour. Just a season ago, the Warriors had lost in a playing tournament, and in the press conference, Curry famously said, You don't want to see us next year. He was dang right, as the Warriors had ran through the west, dominating the Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Mavs back to the finals. Despite having 3 chips though, Curry still had a major chip on his shoulder, as he was looking for his first finals MVP to really cement his legacy. On the other hand, the Boston Celtics had one of the toughest roads to the finals, but with their number 2 ranked defense that season, they were able to stifle the Kevin Durant led Nets, Giannis in the Bucks, and Jimmy Butler to get back to the finals for the first time since 2010. This was the matchup that everyone wanted to see, the team out west that's known for their beautiful ball movement, against a defense that was notable for shutting down any star in their way. But at the start of Game 1, something just fell off from the start. For that entire first quarter, things had played out really similarly. Curry was allowed to fire from deep, and even he shook his head, because you just can't give him that space. Now a lot of people, including the commentators, thought that this was just poor miscommunication. And yes, they're not wrong about some of these, but after a few games, the Celtics strategy became very clear. On these pick and rolls, the Celtics wanted their bigs to drop, to make sure that Curry can't beat them downhill, and that just gives them way too much space to fire. Notice how the big is dropping inside the three point line, so with a good screen, Curry could just come off for a wide open shot. Even if the Celtics bigs were up a little higher, they're still trying to backpedal as Curry comes off, so he still has that space. Part of the reason they did this, was that they trusted Marcus Smart and Derek White to fight through the screens, in hopes of giving Curry a good enough contest. But as you may have seen, Curry is just too good to let that bother him. This strategy looked really in jeopardy in the third quarter of game three. With a deficit at 10, Curry runs the pick and roll, both Celtics go to Kavon Looney, and that's a warm-up jump shot. A few possessions later, Draymond Green sets that ball screen at half court, and Curry runs into this three point shot with a foul. Then just two possessions later, Otto Porter sets that screen at half court, and Horford briefly stunts at Curry, so he flips that into a dribble handoff, and that's another wide open shot to give Golden State the lead. In that third quarter, Curry scored 15 points to get Golden State back in the game. But in the fourth quarter, we got to really see why the Celtics strategy actually disrupts the Warriors entire offense. In these pick and rolls, most teams like to blitz Steph to get the ball out of his hands, and that opens up Draymond Green's short roll passing that he has absolutely mastered. Throughout the years, this Steph-Dray pick and roll has destroyed teams because it creates a ton of defensive rotation, and as a result, a lot of open shots. But with the drop coverage, that effectively takes Draymond Green away, and because he can't shoot, that then allows his matchup to start mucking up other actions. When Steph runs his pick and roll, Tatum leaves Green to disrupt his shot, and creates a turnover. Because the Celtics put a guard on Green, bringing him as a screener doesn't change anything, as they would just switch it. So in that fourth quarter, and for a lot of the game, the Warriors offense was essentially playing 4 on 5. Even if that meant giving up Steph Curry threes, the Celtics bet on their defense to slow him down just enough. So for a lot of the finals, we never saw the Warriors great ball movement that made them a dynasty in the 2010s. Even though their offense is predicated on a lot of off ball actions, it was clear that the basic pick and roll with Steph Curry was by far their best offense in the finals. But by doing that, the Celtics dared Curry to beat them all by himself. In addition, they made him work on defense as well. With good spacing, the Celtics would hunt him and force him to guard in space. Curry isn't a bad defender, but the best part of this game plan was that he got himself into foul trouble, putting even more pressure on himself to stay disciplined and be in the game for the Warriors offense to run smoothly. All in all, with this defensive strategy, the Celtics were up 2-1 in the series with a game 4 at home to try and take command. It started off pretty similarly, Curry continued to find open space to find his own offense, but the Celtics had kept everyone else in check and maintained a small lead throughout the first half. In the third quarter, Curry had one of his classic eruptions again. While the game was close, it still looked like it was swinging Boston's way again, despite Curry's explosion, Draymond Green was having the same issues again. Knowing that he wasn't going to be impactful as a playmaker, he did try looking for his own offense at times, but the Celtics size deterred a lot of his shots. And just like game 3, the Celtics were happy leaving him to disrupt other actions, and Green never made them pay. In the fourth quarter, the Warriors tried going small to involve Green as a screener, but Boston would just leave him to disrupt the ball handler. And with just over 7 minutes to go, Curry and Green try running pick and roll, two Celtics go to step, and Brown anticipates that pass for a steal, and he's able to finish this really tough layup with a foul to put Boston up 5. So, with the season on the line, Steve Kerr gambled and took Draymond Green out for Jordan Poole to add more spacing to the floor. With more shooting, the Celtics defender stayed home, and Klay finishes with a fadeaway to make it a 3 point game. Just a few possessions later, Poole starts a fast break, and while Wiggins doesn't finish this immediately, he gets his own rebound and putback to make it a 1 point game. The reason Kerr felt comfortable benching Draymond Green is because of the inconsistencies of the Celtics offense. At its core, they know that the Celtics offense wants to play 5 out, and when not everyone is a shooter, that becomes much easier to defend, and the Warriors held their own on defense without Green. So, with the deficit at 4, Curry runs pick and roll, and he finds Jordan Poole on the wing who drives by the closeout, and there's Wiggins again with another putback. On the other end, Jalen Brown tries driving on Thompson, and he has to take this tough jumper, so when Curry gets the rebound, he pushes it and and Thompson fills the top of the key for a 3 and the lead. With the Celtics 5 out offense, they could not get anything close to the basket. After another miss, Curry goes to the right wing this time, and after a crushing screen by Looney, he finds Rob Williams on him, and takes him off the dribble with a floater to extend that lead. After a timeout, Steve Kerr brings Green back in for defensive purposes, and we see the same issues in Boston's offense again. Because they're playing 5 out, Green can shut the drive, and then run out to the poor shooter Marcus Smart, which leads us to the last 2 minutes. The Celtics are still down 3, and Brown drives on Thompson, which creates a decent ball reversal, and a semi-contested Horford 3. After that miss, the Warriors then push it, and Curry has just a little bit of space on Derrick Blyte to knock it down, and the lead is now up to 6. The Celtics did have an answer, as Tatum finds Horford in the corner to cut that lead in half, which leads us to the most important possession. Needing a stop, the Celtics actually blitz Curry in the pick and roll, and Green was ready for it, as he dumps it off to Looney to make it a 5 point game, and the Warriors never looked back. All in all, the Celtics offense struggled mightily over the next 2 games, and the Warriors closed them out in 6 games to win their 4th championship in 8 years, and Curry rightfully won his first finals MVP to cement his legacy. Ultimately, the Celtics defense allowing Curry to shoot actually didn't end up hurting them as badly as you might have thought. Yes, he had some monster games, but most of the Warriors offense was stifled. Instead, it was the Celtics offense that couldn't figure out the Warriors defense that ended up losing them the series. As the Warriors picked up on the C's tendencies, most notably forcing everyone to their left hand, they never had any other answers, which helped the Warriors secure the title. So, hope you guys enjoyed this. If so, please feel free to like and subscribe. I appreciate your support, and I'll see you guys next time. Peace.