An article from Thursday on Sports Illustrated pondered if there was a blueprint on how to top the Golden State Warriors for a single night. There were five examples used — one for each loss that the Warriors have endured this regular season.
For instance, we saw the styles used by each team on the night that they defeated Golden State. With Milwaukee, it was a “Lineup of Limbs” that did the job. For Dallas, it was “No Curry, No Space, No Win.” With Denver, it was “Exploiting Mismatches.” Detroit’s was “Neutralizing Draymond Green”, and Portland’s was “Run, Run, Run.”
From Jake Fischer at Sports Illustrated dot com:
So, what does it take to beat Golden State? Prevent Draymond Green’s playmaking ability as best you can, limit the Warriors’ shooters to league-average conversion from deep while also protecting the rim, strike a season-high scoring efficiency and somehow coax Golden State into north of 15 turnovers (while cashing in on those fastbreak opportunities).
Oh, is that all? As Fischer notes at the end of his article, “good luck.” He also mentions that of those five losses that the Warriors suffered, only two of them came with the team at full-strength. Those were the losses to Detroit and Portland. On those nights, the Pistons and Blazers combined to shoot a staggering 47.2 percent from beyond the arc while Golden State only connected on 37.3 percent of theirs.
It’s hard to imagine that there actually is a blueprint on how to beat the Warriors now. It merely seems like whatever fortune you think you’re going to have against them is only an illusion that will go away when the game reaches its climatic point. Golden State takes your perceived strengths and turns them into weaknesses rather quickly.
When a team features two of the best shooters to ever grace the planet in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, they’re going to win most shooting battles. To beat the Warriors in a full seven-game series is going to take some massive strokes of luck considering the level of talent and teamwork they possess. There is no blueprint.