The Golden State Warriors lost again, losing 93:102 to the 76ers, and the team's record reached 21-5, giving up the first place in the West to the Suns. For this game, I believe most fans have heard that the Warriors' big boss Steven Curry performed at a catastrophic level, playing 36 minutes, only 6 of 20 shots, in fact, 3 of 14 three-pointers, only 18 points in the whole game, plus-minus -9.
For Curry's performance, some people said that he was too persistent to break the record, so he shot unreasonable three-pointers, resulting in the team having no chemistry at all, and eventually lost the game. In this regard, I personally do not think so, this season Curry shot more three-point shots, averaging 13.4 times per game, this shot 14 times, completely within the conventional range. The main reason why he performed such a crotch is that the 76ers are well defended, and then it is his own problem.
The 76ers defended curry well
Curry is the league's top scorer, with and without the ball, in order to prevent him, opponents often send the best defensive resources in the team, against the Suns, the Suns sent Bridges, and against the 76ers, the 76ers chose Matisse Sable. Sable, 196cm tall, 90kg, arm span of 213cm, has excellent foot movement, confrontation, defensive habits and awareness, last season he averaged 1.6 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, successfully selected for the best defensive team, and this season is even further, averaging 1.8 steals and 1.2 blocks per game, if you count his 25.1 minute playing time, you will find that his steal block rate is extremely high. In this game, Sebel blocked Curry twice, becoming the first person in NBA history.
Sebel did a very good job defending Curry, and after the game, Warriors coach Kerr publicly praised him: "I want to give Sebel a compliment, his defense is very good." He's a rare defender who can combine his arm span, athleticism, and brain to be so good, and he's defending Curry as well as the great defenders I've seen for a long time defend Curry. ”
As for his own performance, Sebel himself said: the difficulty of defending Stephen is not on the physical level, the difficulty is on the psychological level. You have to understand where he's going to try to score points, and you can't let your guard down in these rounds. If you let your guard down, by the time you get back, he's already in the empty position and shot three points.
However, the defense of Curry has never been a player can do a good job, as a shot of the ball carrier, Curry can not only hold the ball to initiate the demolition, but also often around the cover of teammates to catch the ball and shoot, in the face of this situation, the 76ers are almost all over the field specifically target Curry, after blocking and dismantling, immediately pack Curry, force him to the ball, even if Curry out of the ball to the empty cut or down teammates, the 76ers forward players will immediately come to the defense, continue to delay the Warriors offense. It was through a sense of integrity that they ultimately suppressed the Warriors' offense, allowing the Warriors to score only 93 points.
Warriors' problem
As one of the top teams this season, the Warriors definitely hope to win the championship again, this season their offensive efficiency is 112.4, ranking fourth in the league, defensive efficiency is 99.5, ranking first in the league, from the data point of view, the team can be described as both offensive and defensive, extremely efficient, and the team's record of 21 wins and 5 losses does show that they are not ordinary this season, but after several losses, it is not difficult to find that there are still many problems for the Warriors to win the championship, especially the following one.
This loss to the 76ers, the Warriors lost in the fourth quarter, the first three quarters were finished, in fact, they were still ahead, but in the end they were beaten by a single quarter to beat a wave of 32:20, Curry only 1 of 6 shots in the last quarter, he scored 3 points, Wiggins and Poole did not touch the ball much. The lack of strength at key moments is definitely a big problem for the championship team, and it should be known that in the more intense playoffs, when the gap between the strength of the two sides is not large, many games will be played to the last moment, and if you can't get points at the last moment, it is basically equivalent to giving in to victory.
Data show that this season the Warriors played a total of 9 games with key moments, the final 5 wins and 4 losses (this is not a key moment game), as the team leader Stephen Curry performed extremely badly at key moments, he averaged 3.4 minutes per game, only 2 points, shooting only 23.1%, three-point shooting rate of 17.6%, it can be said that this season the Warriors lost, basically lost at key moments, and lost games, Curry basically performed crotch.
Curry is strong in three points, but he has been too much of a magic ball this season and lacks other offensive means. Curry averaged 20.3 shots per game this season, including 13.4 three-pointers, or 66 percent of the total. Curry can shoot more than 40 percent of three-pointers this season, but opponents know that you have to shoot three points, and they will definitely be strictly guarded, at this time, increasing breakthroughs and mid-range shots is not necessarily a bad thing. Personally, the key moments are still reliable in the middle distance, like Jordan, Kobe, Durant, Nowitzki and Leonard, who have won the FMVP super scorers, all of them are mid-range masters.