Don’t Go Under a Screen on Steph Curry
Forget a scouting report on Steph Curry. The dude is impossible to game plan against.
At Bard we spend a ton of time scouting our opponents and one of the biggest things we try to identify is how to guard each player based on their shooting ability.
We try to identify players that we don’t think can shoot very well and give those guys a very short closeout in order to catch their drive. Players that shoot and drive equally as dangerously, we close out true and play solid defense. And then there are those players that can knock down three pointers with minimal space. Those guys we close out tight and try to force them to be drivers, not allowing them clean looks from three.
Don’t get me wrong, Steph Curry is in the fourth category, the one where he shoots it better than anyone on this planet, but can also drive by even the best of defenders. That’s why he’s your 2015 NBA MVP.
But as a knockdown shooter, the one thing we do against Steph Curry or a player of his ilk, is to trail on EVERY screening situation. Shooters like him cannot be left to play with space as the defender tries to shoot the gap on the screen. Mike Conley actually does a great job after getting caught under the screen to close out and contest the shot, forcing Curry off balance. But it was unfortunately too late for the Conley and the Grizz. Curry has ice in his veins.
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