air gordon wrote:so what about GSW? Curry's awesomeness in the clutch are ISO plays. that step back on nene late in the 4th... ISO. or those midrange unstoppable ISO's by KD
just saying
Actually, a lot of Curry's shots are with screens up high, and they are often less contested than Hardens. And, key is "Mid range", Durant mixes up his game, and is a threat all over the floor. Everybody knows that Harden is either pulling up for a three, or plowing through the lane. KD takes higher % shots in the clutch, and so does Curry.
And talking about ISO in the clutch? HOU is playing that way for most of 48 minutes, that's the problem, and it shows in the assist numbers in this series. Far more standing around watching, less people touching the ball to get into a rythem, and relatively no work in the mid range (Making Houston predictable).
This stuff can work in the season where the defense is blah and you are not playing the same team over and over consecutively. However, in the playoffs when you can adjust to teams much quicker, and if HOU doesn't make any changes and continues this play style, they could lose this one in 5 or 6. Comparing the way GS is playing to how HOU is playing is laughable, if you watched the games you would see that GS is moving A LOT more on offense. At times 4 or 5 swings on possessions, more screens on and off the ball, more diversity in the offense (Attacking and being a threat in the mid, 3 and paint). And again, HOU is also being outworked.
The assists in this series are 48 to 31, that is a monster difference considering the point differential is only 10 points between the two teams. If Houston was sharing more on offense, playing overall smarter on that end, they could have taken one or both of these games. Yet, they continue to be ISO happy, and have a stagnant offense that doesn't produce a good brand of team basketball. GS is playing smarter, bottom line.
Also, Curry shot .439% from three this season, Harden shot .368%. That is also a big difference. Curry is a better three point shooter by a sizeable margin, always has been. These playoffs, Curry is shooting .423% from three, Harden .337% (Below league average). GS is perfectly fine with Harden chucking step back threes in the clutch. Curry also has a history of killing bigs from three when bigs are switched out onto him, a much richer history than Harden. Whether it be Steven Adams, Tristan Thompson, etc. Curry in an ISO shooting a three on Nene is a far higher % shot than Harden isoing and shooting a three on anybody.
And by the way, Harden is a CAREER .327% from three in the playoffs. And look at his last 4 playoffs % from downtown:
15-16 - .310%
16-17 - .278%
17-18 - .299%
18-19 - .337%
Here are Currys (Career.409% from three in the playoffs):
15-16 - .404%
16-17 - .419%
17-18 - .395%
18-19 - .423%
And while Harden is incredibly ISO heavy, he is still averaging 5.4 turnovers PER GAME. Incredibly poor shot selection, selfish basketball, below average 3P% (and FG in general, career 41% from the field in the playoffs), and terrible at taking care of the ball.