It has to be sheer hell to guard Stephen Curry.
I mean, there's some level of ‘thanks, captain obvious” in that sentence. But it’s not just about having to guard an elite player. It’s about having to guard this particular elite player.
He just never stops moving. And neither do the Warriors. That's who they are.
It’s also what Ime Udoka wants them to be: A fast-moving, get the ball swinging, active on defense, always playing together type of team. They are a sort of blueprint, or at least a strong reference guide, to how the Celtics should look more like.
“On the defensive end, how active they are and obviously one of the better defensive teams,” Jayson Tatum said. “They’ve got a lot of guys that can defend and are active and they kind of follow the game plan.”
Why are the Dubs the Dubs and the Celtics, well, not?
Part of it is personnel. Curry is always in motion without the ball, either cutting, setting picks, or spacing the floor. The Celtics don’t have a guy like on the team, mostly because the stars they have haven't had to develop a game like that.
Curry is small, and small guys are generally cutters and movers because that's how they're going to get open. Tatum and Jaylen Brown don’t need to be that.
“Offense is more based on the guys that you have on your team and playing to their strengths,” Tatum said. “I think it’s easy to say that you could take things from every team on offense, but I think each team plays to their own individual strength.”
It would also help to have a Draymond Green who can be an elite defender and ball-mover on offense and who is so good with the ball that it doesn’t matter that sometimes he gets 15 feet of space to shoot.
But the Celtics can still look at that combination, and how well the ball moves for the Warriors on a regular basis. The Celtics should look across the court at the activity level and want to incorporate that into their own games. They should see how hard it is to guard what the Warriors do and think ‘we should be doing this to other teams.’
“I think every team can take lessons from every team in the NBA,” Marcus Smart said. “Every team does something different and very well, some teams more than others. But definitely, the way that they move without the ball, the way that they move with the ball, that's how the game is supposed to be played and get the easiest shots you can. You constantly gotta watch the film, take notes, and try to create and make progress.”
They have a roster full of shooters who can help support their main guys, and a pretty good one in Klay Thompson who’ll be coming back next month to add to that, so that also helps. That's where Brad Stevens comes to fix the flaws on the roster.
That will, theoretically, happen in time, but the Celtics can still work on other elements of their evolving games so, when they get more shooting, things can snap together more quickly.
In addition to personnel, Golden State has something Boston desperately wants, but still can’t have.
Continuity.
Part of why the Warriors are who they are is that they know each other extraordinarily well. They can make intuitive plays because they know a teammate is going to be in a certain spot, or will move a certain way in different situations.
It’s the basketball equivalent of finishing each other’s sentences. The years of playing together, and playing together in the same roles, make it easier to do things.
The Celtics still need to find another basketball gear so they can move and cut more quickly (or cut at all), but they also need the time to refine those skills and make them more second nature.
“I mean, that would be ideal,” Tatum said. “I think it's constantly changing due to the lineups that we have, and who we have available. It's kind of hard to stay the same when different guys in and out. Hopefully we can get guys back safe and back healthy, and kind of have a long stretch where we see what we truly can be and truly are.”