Why are the Celtics Dropping Against Steph Curry?

BOSTON — The Warriors had already rained six three-pointers over the Celtics’ drop coverages in the third quarter when Klay Thompson caught a pair of handoffs from Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney as the final minute of the frame ticked away.

Ime Udoka liked how the Celtics had bounced back from blowing an 18-point lead minutes earlier, scoring on four of six possessions to get a seven-point lead back and reach 25 points in the frame. But as Smart ran into Looney and Thompson rose up high above the right wing, Robert Williams III had only made it to the three-point line — and Boston settled for a four-point lead entering the fourth when Klay’s long three fell.

“Coach Udoka looked at me and was like ‘get up,'” Williams III told CLNS Media post-game. “I told him, ‘I thought I was up?’ Going against great players you can’t give them an inch of space at all.”

The Celtics relented and adjusted from their drop scheme into more aggressive defenses of the Warriors’ pick-and-roll that tortured them in the third. They forced three straight Curry turnovers and stopped 10 of Golden State’s first 13 possessions to begin the fourth, utilizing perimeter rotations into double teams and turning defense into offense on the way to a 116-100 win.

Boston isn’t overreacting to Curry’s shooting, now 48.6% from deep on 12.3 attempts per game, but they’re playing with fire by yielding space when he circles around screens.

Just as the Celtics’ big men have been caught between containing and rising up to sell out on stopping the shot, Udoka walked the line of sticking with Boston’s game plan or shifting away from what’s worked all postseason, including in this series collectively. The Celtics only allowed 97.3 points per 100 plays to the Warriors in the half court through three games, an average that fell to 94.8 points per 100 for Golden State in Game 3. As Draymond Green noted following Game 1, you can leave a game feeling like you dominated for over 40 minutes and lose.

“Steph Curry is the greatest shooter to ever play the game,” Daniel Theis told CLNS walking off the practice court on Thursday. “So we can’t lose sleep on those really deep threes. We’ve got to take away the pick-and-roll ones where he’s close to the three-point line, transition ones. That’s what we’ve got to take care of. If he’s feeling it and pulling up from the logo, that’s tough. If you, as a big, are up there on the logo, you open up so much more. So for us, we can’t lose sleep over the crazy shots and the threes.”

A source told CLNS that Boston’s bigs are in a difficult position on those plays, and the Celtics prefer to allow their screen-savvy guards like Marcus Smart and Derrick White to navigate Golden State’s actions rather than sending someone like Al Horford to half court to chase Curry. You could qualify what they’re playing as a drop, even if Theis literally stood above the three-point line containing Curry, who hit a three multiple steps behind the line as part of the decisive close to the third quarter in Game 2.

While the Warriors are burying 40.2% of their threes in the Finals so far, Boston controlled the paint, the Celtics converting 68% of their looks inside compared to 60.3% for the Warriors (interesting note: the Warriors’ arena produces wonky rim data, but in this case Boston’s and Golden State’s would be tracked equally). Golden State didn’t talk offensive adjustments at practice, seemingly content that they’re up against a dominant half court defense they can’t allow to get set. The Warriors’ best run in the series came through racking up 33 points off turnovers in Game 2.

“When you’re guarding Steph Curry, you have to kind of pick your poison,” Green told CLNS at practice on Thursday. “They’re picking a drop, which is great. I think there are some things we can do to capitalize on that, and I think there are times where you’ve seen in this series where we have.  So we just got to continue to do that more consistently and I think if we bring the force on the defensive end, it allows you to see more of that. The game all ties together and we have to tie it together and it starts with me.”

The Celtics also thrive in transition, but as the playoffs progressed and teams modeled their game plans around turning up the heat on Boston’s offense and forcing turnovers, ball control became the emphasis. Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart played a two-man game in the first quarter on Wednesday to not allow the Warriors to load up on Tatum, slipping and popping Derrick White and Smart following screens into secondary playmaking positions. Brown, Horford and Smart combined for 16 of Boston’s 28 assists alongside Tatum’s nine. The Celtics quietly outshot the Warriors through Game 3, hitting 43.4% of their threes, by creating quality looks.

Curry’s attempts, by contrast, have been extremely difficult. Horford took blame for the rare seven-point play that followed the one time he extended far above the three-point line to contest the guard midway through the third quarter. He slid into Curry’s airspace and committed a flagrant foul while the shot fell through, a four-point swing.

Otto Porter Jr. caught and drilled a three on the follow-up possession, pulling the Warriors from down by nine points to within two, 82-80. The Celtics haven’t blitzed the pick-and-roll, possibly due to an array of dump-off options for Curry like Kevon Looney and Andrew Wiggins, or because they’re just not comfortable doing it. Kevin O’Connor noted Boston blitzed pick-and-rolls at one of the lowest rates in the NBA this season.

“You understand personnel, they have a certain lineup with their length and size,” Curry told CLNS on Thursday. “You’re not going to really see many blitzes just because I don’t think it’s physically possible to run around as much as I do and how many screens we can throw at them. So they’re doing a pretty solid job for most of the game trying to take away the three, keeping bodies on bodies and stuff like that. We started the first couple of possessions in the fourth with turnovers, and we kind of got sped up a little bit, then they were pretty smart in terms of who they were trying to come off of and plug driving lanes and send extra bodies and attention. Honestly, those patterns don’t make a ton of sense, but they were super aggressive across the board. We’ve got something for that, then obviously if we take care of the ball and settle in, it can set a totally different tone for the fourth quarter. Then, obviously, offense and defense are connected. You have to get stops in order to maintain momentum down the stretch.”

Switching proved the most comfortable answer for the Celtics, and the Warriors made mistakes that swung the game. There’s a world where Golden State takes advantage of pulling Williams III to the perimeter by continuing to keep the ball and off-ball movement popping, Udoka acknowledging on Thursday the difficulty in making Williams III play that way, but not when the big man rotated like he did on Wednesday night.

The same player the Warriors audibly yelled couldn’t move before his removal early in the third quarter of Game 2 forced the first three Celtics steals of the fourth quarter in Game 3.

Neither led to scores, but they snowballed into a Warriors drought that led to them pulling their starters just under 10 minutes later after Green fouled out following a scrum for a loose ball. Curry left the play hobbled, injuring his left foot, now the main concern for Golden State beyond how Boston is playing him. He’ll play in Game 4, Curry said at practice, offering little more on his health status.

When Curry tried to attack Williams III alone, the center sent Curry’s floater attempt into the first row. When Williams III sealed off the left wing, with Grant Williams in front of him contesting. Curry leaned back, Williams leaned forward, and good offense won the play. Three misses and three turnovers from Curry later, good Celtics defense won the game.

“He’s a generational talent,” Grant Williams told CLNS on the court after practice on Thursday. “He’s a guy that can maneuver around the court like a maestro. Like Kyrie has the dribbling and everything else that you’re trying to stay in front. Curry, he’s sliding, gliding, doing all this stuff, kind of reminds when you’re just trying to float. Just making sure you’re basically there to contest, because that’s about the best you can do. Hope and pray that he misses. He’s that type of talent, he’s that type of player, one of the greatest point guards of all time so you’ve got to give him the respect he deserves.”