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Golden State Warriors All-Star Stephen Curry has captured the league’s attention already this season as he has consistently erupted on the court with scoring. With this in mind, now the rest of the league is trying to figure out ways to slow the guard down. To combat Curry’s shooting, the Warriors’ opponents have been preparing for this, trapping the guard in box-and-one defense to control his scoring and getting a flow on the court.
This has become a problem for the Warriors and has also become frustrating for Curry. In a recent interview, Curry responds to being heavily guarded by opposing teams.
Curry Responds to ‘Janky’ Defenses
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Curry is definitely aware that he is considered a shooting threat in the league, which is why he is being heavily guarded. While the Warriors are still figuring out their new lineup, Curry is remaining persistent at the shot in the hopes of keeping the team alive.
In an interview after the Warriors’ loss to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, Curry expressed how he felt about the defenses of opposing teams.
“We call it the janky defense and eventually you think we’ll be able to pick it apart,” said Curry per SoundCloud. “We need to find some key sets and looks to create shots. I have to solve that puzzle so I stay aggressive and don’t fall into what it’s supposed to do and take me out”
Even head coach Steve Kerr shared his thoughts on how the Warriors are combatting the defensive schemes of their opposing teams, specifically his star player Curry.
“I don’t think he’s fatigued,” said Kerr per the Warriors SoundCloud. “He’s seeing different pictures. Teams are either jumping out and soft blitzing him or playing a box-and-1…A lot of the secondary actions we would’ve got a few years ago, we’re not quite ready to see. That’s got to come.”
This box-and-1 defense has been executed against the Warriors in their last four games against the Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, and the Denver Nuggets. The Warriors were able to combat it against the Clipper as Curry came out with 38 points. It did seem to work however against the Raptors as Curry was only able to score 11 points. However, the Warriors still came out of that game with a close 106-105 win after the Raptors missed a game-winning shot.
Curry was able to get back in his rhythm scoring 20 points against the Pacers and 35 against the Nuggets last night. However, despite Curry’s efforts, the Warriors lost both games.
Teammates Notice As Well
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Teammate Kent Bazemore has witnessed Curry’s struggles having to deal with being double and sometimes triple guarded by opposing defenses. Bazemore has even thought of ways to go against this defense.
“Just trying to figure out other options to score,” Bazemore said to reporters per Dalton Johnson. “See what those great offensive teams under that realm did as far as reads, different reads, spacing, lack of spacing — just trying to expand our horizons offensively and share with our teammates.”
Bazemore was able to admit that this has indeed been a challenge for the Warriors. Having to deal with this just when the team seemed to establish a rhythm was what has been the most difficult. In the Warriors’ favor, not all teams have the same length as the Pacers or the Raptors in order to successfully execute the box-and-one defense in every single game.
Certainly, more of the Warriors’ opponents will most likely attempt this same defense in order to somewhat slow Curry down. With their record now at 6-6, Golden State will need to find ways to go against this defense in order to win future games.
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