3. Â Rough up Steph Curry
The bottom line is Steph Curry has regained his shooting touch after a disastrous Game 2 for the ages when he shot 5-of-23 from the field and went 2-of-15 from beyond the arc.
In Game 3, he regained his stroke when he went 10-of-20 from the field and scored 27 points. He shot an effective 7-of-13 from beyond the perimeter.
In Game 4, he complimented the Warriors’ offensive attack with 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting, along with 4-of-7 from the three-point line.
Curry is the MVP of the league and is arguably the best shooter in the game right now. However, he’s not perfect, and it has been proven that he can be flustered on the game’s biggest stage.
The key to forcing Curry to struggle is by bullying and hounding him with physicality. When Dellavedova was at his peak energy wise, he hounded Curry into one of the worst games of his career in Game 2.
Since that time, the MVP has been able to get shots off with relative comfort. That goes away if you start fouling him hard and make him think twice about going up for a shot.
Yes, it’s true he’s an amazing free throw shooter. But the Cavaliers should accept Curry converting on a few free throws if that means he’ll miss the majority of his field goal attempts. In Game 2 when he struggled drastically, he went to the line eight times.
In the two games since, he’s gone to the line just twice.
This is a sign that Cleveland is not using enough of their size and physicality to get into Curry’s head.
Next: Pack the Paint with Bigs
