Odds and Ends

For some reason, players from the old days are feeling threatened by the Warriors' success and feel compelled to belittle Golden State as a team and Curry as an individual player. I don't understand it myself. Guys like Oscar and Kareem should feel secure enough in their accomplishments that they don't feel the need to diss current players. Why not celebrate unselfish team basketball played at a very high level?

My guess is that other teams would like these guys to shut up. The Warriors used disrespect thrown their way in the offseason to help fuel their tremendous start, and this is another jolt of disrespect to fuel their late-season push.

outside what did Oscar and Kareem say? anybody have any links?

seeing us lose recently to Timberwolves and Jazz to teams with bigs with post up skills shows me that style can still have a place in this league.....no team has 2 lights out shooters at the 1 and 2 like Curry and Thompson and its really hard to find those kind of elite pieces.

The old time fans also bask in the glory of what they perceive to have been the greatest teams and players. Its sort of a GOOD OLD DAYS MENTALITY enjoyed by many seniors. Embellishing the past is a national ritual that is always sure to make for interesting discussions.

swish

cowens/oldschool wrote:outside what did Oscar and Kareem say? anybody have any links?

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14857175/golden-state-warriors-stephen-curry-finds-bashing-retired-stars-annoying

Part of Oscar's quote:

When I played years ago, if you shot a shot outside and hit it, the next time I'm going to be up on top of you. I'm going to pressure you with three-quarters, half-court defense. But now they don't do that. These coaches do not understand the game of basketball, as far as I'm concerned.

Kareem essentially agreed with him. Once Oscar's quote got into the discussion, Stephen Jackson said his 2006-07 Warriors would beat these Warriors, and Cedric Ceballos said the 1993-94 Suns would beat the Warriors.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2619726-stephen-jackson-says-2006-07-warriors-would-beat-current-warriors-team

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2016/02/26/cedric-ceballos-1993-94-suns-could-beat-warriors-today/81013634/

Thanks Outside I didn't find Oscars comments so bad, I find this era overall very weak, obviously GS is a great team. Actually disagree with Kerr saying no one in history could cover Curry, we have a player on our roster, AB who does very well against Steph. I also agree that defensively Curry would have his hands full with a primetime Kevin Johnson, more teams should attack Curry defensively if they can.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Thanks Outside I didn't find Oscars comments so bad, I find this era overall very weak, obviously GS is a great team. Actually disagree with Kerr saying no one in history could cover Curry, we have a player on our roster, AB who does very well against Steph. I also agree that defensively Curry would have his hands full with a primetime Kevin Johnson, more teams should attack Curry defensively if they can.

cowens

What in particular do you find this era to be very weak?


swish

cowens/oldschool wrote:Thanks Outside I didn't find Oscars comments so bad, I find this era overall very weak, obviously GS is a great team. Actually disagree with Kerr saying no one in history could cover Curry, we have a player on our roster, AB who does very well against Steph. I also agree that defensively Curry would have his hands full with a primetime Kevin Johnson, more teams should attack Curry defensively if they can.

I see a couple of problems with Oscar's comments. Does he actually think that no one has thought of extending the defense on Curry? Or getting physical with him? First off, the game isn't played like it was in Oscar's day where the same guy always brought the ball upcourt and you could harass that guy full court to wear him down over the course of a game. The Warriors have at least three guys on the court at any time who bring the ball up (sometimes four or five), so that little strategy doesn't work. As far as extending the defense out to 35 feet, if you do that with one guy, Curry has great ballhandling skills, body control, and change of direction ability, so he can easily get around one guy. Double-team him, and he'll willingly give the ball up so that the Warriors now have a four-on-three. Coaches have tried this stuff, but it doesn't work because Curry turns it to his advantage and the rest of the Warriors are so good.

Teams have also tried getting physical with him, mainly when he doesn't have the ball, but this also doesn't work. For one thing, Curry is a lot stronger than he looks. He does intense core and hip strengthening, he deadlifts 400 pounds (second-most on the team to Festus Ezeli), and he has great forearm and wrist strength (which is why he maintains good shooting form out to half court), so he's not a little weakling. Then he's in incredible shape and has great stamina, so he can keep running and cutting all game long, which is the best strategy to combat physical play. He also has the perfect demeanor to combat physical play -- he doesn't get frustrated, he keeps working to free himself, and he has the mental toughness that allows him to perform well once he does get open rather than letting the pressure rattle him.

This notion that coaches in today's game can't figure out Oscar's simple solution to defending Curry is just ridiculous. They've tried it, along with everything else, and it doesn't work.

Bradley is obviously a very good defender, and he can do as well against Curry as anyone, but Curry has scored 38 and 37 points in his last two games against Boston, so it's not like Bradley is shutting him down.

Great players would be great, no matter what era they played in. I don't know why these retired players have difficulty acknowledging that.

Outside wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Thanks Outside I didn't find Oscars comments so bad, I find this era overall very weak, obviously GS is a great team. Actually disagree with Kerr saying no one in history could cover Curry, we have a player on our roster, AB who does very well against Steph. I also agree that defensively Curry would have his hands full with a primetime Kevin Johnson, more teams should attack Curry defensively if they can.

I see a couple of problems with Oscar's comments. Does he actually think that no one has thought of extending the defense on Curry? Or getting physical with him? First off, the game isn't played like it was in Oscar's day where the same guy always brought the ball upcourt and you could harass that guy full court to wear him down over the course of a game. The Warriors have at least three guys on the court at any time who bring the ball up (sometimes four or five), so that little strategy doesn't work. As far as extending the defense out to 35 feet, if you do that with one guy, Curry has great ballhandling skills, body control, and change of direction ability, so he can easily get around one guy. Double-team him, and he'll willingly give the ball up so that the Warriors now have a four-on-three. Coaches have tried this stuff, but it doesn't work because Curry turns it to his advantage and the rest of the Warriors are so good.

Teams have also tried getting physical with him, mainly when he doesn't have the ball, but this also doesn't work. For one thing, Curry is a lot stronger than he looks. He does intense core and hip strengthening, he deadlifts 400 pounds (second-most on the team to Festus Ezeli), and he has great forearm and wrist strength (which is why he maintains good shooting form out to half court), so he's not a little weakling. Then he's in incredible shape and has great stamina, so he can keep running and cutting all game long, which is the best strategy to combat physical play. He also has the perfect demeanor to combat physical play -- he doesn't get frustrated, he keeps working to free himself, and he has the mental toughness that allows him to perform well once he does get open rather than letting the pressure rattle him.

This notion that coaches in today's game can't figure out Oscar's simple solution to defending Curry is just ridiculous. They've tried it, along with everything else, and it doesn't work.

Bradley is obviously a very good defender, and he can do as well against Curry as anyone, but Curry has scored 38 and 37 points in his last two games against Boston, so it's not like Bradley is shutting him down.

Great players would be great, no matter what era they played in. I don't know why these retired players have difficulty acknowledging that.

in the game this year Curry shot 9-27 from the field, in another game a few years ago with Bradley all over him, he shot 4 of 20something, that game was highlighted on Reds Army which showed every FG attempt and Bradley's defense was pretty incredible that game. No one shuts down Curry, but I'll take those FG%'s anytime. Didn't know Curry was such a workout warrior, its obviously helped his game as his improvement has been incredible.

swish wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Thanks Outside I didn't find Oscars comments so bad, I find this era overall very weak, obviously GS is a great team. Actually disagree with Kerr saying no one in history could cover Curry, we have a player on our roster, AB who does very well against Steph. I also agree that defensively Curry would have his hands full with a primetime Kevin Johnson, more teams should attack Curry defensively if they can.

cowens

 What in particular do you find this era to be very weak?


  swish

there is a lack of post up players and players that can create for themselves or their team or carry their team, which has led to so much pnr and 3 ball, lots of really bad teams with too many bad young players.

I very seldom watch a game unless it involves the Celtics. Tonight though I tuned in to the Warriors vs Thunder and wow Curry and Durant are putting on a shooting exhibition. Guess I'm going to have to tune in to more games when they involve these two teams, plus the Spurs.

What an amazing shooting performance by Curry tonight. I've never seen a more cold blooded, nor better, three point shooter.

The NBA must be loving this, after tonight I'll be tuning in every time the Warriors are on.

No doubt...best shooter ever.

Dboss

bobc33 wrote:What an amazing shooting performance by Curry tonight.  I've never seen a more cold blooded, nor better, three point shooter.

The NBA must be loving this, after tonight I'll be tuning in every time the Warriors are on.

Every bar in rhe bay area with a TV was rockin' tonight.


bob


.

Golden State's starting frontline got outscored by OKC's starting frontline 62-12, yet the Warriors still won.  I see some guard named Curry had a pretty good game to win it for them.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/golden-state-warriors-oklahoma-city-thunder-2016022725/

I'm curious to see how we do against GS next game, I'm sure we all enjoyed the last time we played them in a thrilling game. If we can figure out where to hide IT on defense, we might be the most difficult match up for GS and Curry, because we have 2 of the best guard and PG defenders in the NBA in AB and Smart and we can run and match their pace.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/sports/basketball/stephen-curry-golden-state-warriors-oklahoma-city-thunder.html?vh=9c24cab71aad14eae16a4be2c27a50fe2bd7ab68&ts=1456677765&_r=0



Stephen Curry Can’t Be Stopped, by Any Generation


By BENJAMIN HOFFMANFEB. 28, 2016





Stephen Curry, No. 30, celebrated with teammates after making the game-winning 3-pointer against the Thunder Saturday night. Credit J Pat Carter/Getty Images



Stephen Curry heard the criticism this week. He heard that his success is due in part to a lack of legitimate perimeter defense in the N.B.A. He heard that today’s stars don’t play tough enough to stop him.

To put it bluntly, there was no defense in history that could have stopped what Curry did at the end of the Warriors game against the Thunder Saturday night.

Playing on the road in Oklahoma City, the Warriors were tied with the Thunder, 118-118, when Andre Iguodala pulled down a missed jumper by Russell Westbrook with about six seconds remaining in overtime. The Warriors could have called a timeout to set up their offense, but Iguodala instead chose to toss the ball to Curry, who casually made his way across mid-court. Before the Thunder could put together anything resembling a defensive play against him, Curry launched the ball toward the hoop from more than 32 feet away.


Swish. While beating the rival Thunder, Curry also broke his own record for most 3-pointers in a season (286) and tied for most in a game (12).

“What was that, 40 feet?” Draymond Green asked reporters after the game. “That’s absurd.”



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Steph Curry is just ridiculous...