There are always people on the Internet who say that Curry is a defensive black hole, and they say it for several years, trying to prove that Curry is seriously overrated.

In fact, Curry's defensive ability has been improving, and by this year he has surpassed the league average, and is probably in the upper middle range of point guards. He has been teammates with Tony Allen, Paul and others for a few years, and he hasn't opened the writing wheel, can he still learn half a bit of defensive skills?

DEFENDING THE BREAK-THROUGH CURRY IS BASICALLY OUT OF POSITION, AND IN TERMS OF INTERFERING SHOTS, HE IS EVEN BETTER THAN THE 183CM PAUL, BECAUSE HE IS 190CM TALL.

Curry is always said to be the root cause of poor defense is image, he is not black and hard, he does not have the appearance of a tough guy, and it is useless to grow hair and beard on that Q face.

The funniest thing is that when experts say that Curry's defense is not bad and lists the defensive plus/minus data chart, some fans will say that this is because the star point guards opposite are all scoring guards, and Curry is the weakest defense on the opponent's court. And when the point guard data on the opposite side exploded, these people said that Curry was blown up.

This season, Curry ranks sixth in official defensive efficiency among point guards, outperforming Westbrook, who is the Thunder's top physical, but likes to shrink around the box to grab rebounds and gamble steals.

Curry's disadvantage is that he can't guard against strong, speedy guards, but many people can't guard against this. His strengths are his ability to defend 3-and-D players, shooters like Redick, and his ability to steal while defending such players.

Parker is a guard who plays the rim offense, and he has been at the bottom of Curry this series.

Popovich saw that the situation was not good, and yelled at the players, asking Parker to pass the ball to Duncan and Leonard to attack, and on the defensive end, Parker was asked to defend Green, who lacked the ability to attack with the ball, and replaced Leonard to defend Curry.

If Danny Green is on the Spurs and Fournier is on the Clippers, Popovich's change of defense will definitely work, Green is good at defending the frame and can interfere with shots, and is an excellent 3-and-D player. But Fournier is not, and Popovich wants him to do it, but he is not only poor in confrontation, but also lacks excellent defensive awareness.

Curry drew Leonard's defense and began to play without the ball, and Parsons passed the ball to Guy on the left side to attack.

Guy started to play to his strengths, hitting a pull-up shot and a back-to-back Fournier turnaround shot.

Popovich saw that there was a problem with the single defense, and he asked for a timeout. He sent Ginobili in advance and continued to let Leonard defend Curry, while Ginobili relied on experience to defend Guy while strengthening the offense.

Curry continued to play without the ball, handing over the main offensive task to Gay and Parsons, and Ginobili defended whoever was singled. This tactic is so simple that it is not coordinated, it is to avoid the Spurs' two defensive strong points to attack.

As early as the fifth game of the victory over the Spurs, Yang Rui figured out one thing, dealing with the Spurs may not need to cooperate, the Spurs' defensive system is good at defensive coordination, attacking their weaknesses, crushing talent like the Thunder, and may be able to achieve better results.

If the Spurs have two Leonards on the outside, the Clippers will definitely lose this series, and unfortunately, the Spurs have only one outside defensive leader, which makes them only have to ensure that one side is guarded.

Gay ensured the offensive firepower, and the three who could shoot three-pointers pulled away, and the Spurs were not easy to wrap up. Popovich doesn't want to contain Curry, let alone Guy? The only thing he likes to pack is Griffin, and it's not easy to have obvious gaps near the penalty area.

Guy had 10 points and 3 rebounds in the first quarter, Curry played 8 minutes and rested, scoring 8 points and 3 assists, Griffin's main task was to attract the defense, taking fewer shots, shooting 2-of-3 and 2-of-2 free throws, scoring 6 points.

Parsons hit a three-pointer and Green hit a mid-range shot, and all five scored to give the Clippers a 29-22 lead.

In the second quarter, Yang Rui sent Curry, Livingston, Middleton, Farid, and Draymond Green.

The Spurs let Leonard defend Curry, Yang Rui's adjustment method was to let Curry rest early, and then bring a substitute, he did not always attack in the first quarter, but just stood on the periphery and waited for three-point opportunities, and the physical exertion was not large.

Popovich felt a bit of a headache, although he also replaced Leonard early and came up to take the bench after a break, but there were weaknesses in the defense in other positions.

The Spurs five are Mills, Belinelli, Fournier, Leonard, and Split.

Leonard's appearance at this time is aimed at the Clippers' small-ball tactics, and the Spurs achieved good results in the second quarter of the last game, he can not only defend the outside, but also prevent the height of the small forward, relying on the impact of Farid. But Curry is on the court at this time, Leonard can't defend Curry, and the three outside teammates may not be able to jam Farid.

Leonard dealt with Farid, and letting Mills, who is 183cm tall, go to defend Curry is a dead end. Despite his aggressive defense, Mills is one of those who often make mistakes as soon as he plays, not only does he lack his height, but he also has no reach. Single-defense Curry and defense Livingston both suffered.

Popovich was in a daze on the sidelines, and could only sigh in his heart that "good tactics" could not make targeted adjustments.

He can see that Yang Rui's tactics today are not running routines, but through player rotation, arranging a lineup on the court that makes Leonard unable to defend Curry, and then attacking the weak side of the Spurs.

Leonard has indeed improved a lot compared to last season, which side he defends, the other side is the weak side, but no matter how good his personal defensive ability is, he can't manage both sides, which is called a lack of skills.

Popovich is now not even able to arrange a single defense inside, let alone an outside package, so he can only pray that Curry has no touch and can't shoot against a short guard. THE REALITY IS THAT IN THE FACE OF THE DEFENSE OF A 183CM PLAYER, EVEN IF THAT PERSON IS PAUL, CURRY CAN EASILY FIND HIS TOUCH.

What made the Spurs even more devastating was that the person who played best in the second quarter was not Curry, but the role player who beat the Spurs in the regular season, swingman Chris Middleton.

Popovich didn't expect that Yang Rui actually arranged for Middleton to attack with the ball and hit Belinelli with his back in the low post.

MIDDLETON IS 201CM TALL, HAS AN ARM SPAN OF 210CM, AND WEIGHS 100 KG. Belinelli is 198CM tall, weighs 91 kg, has an average arm span, and is obviously lacking in confrontation and bounce.

Middleton practiced his back-to-back skills yesterday at the request of Yang Rui, attacking very resolutely, and scored six points in a row by eating Belinelli, including a large step-back jumper; He also ran back from the perimeter, received a pass from Curry, and hit a three-pointer at 50 degrees on the left side.

The margin quickly widened to 17 points, the Clippers home fans shouted and cheered wildly, and the home team's morale completely overwhelmed the Spurs.

Popovich called a timeout and was forced to adjust.

A replay of the goal was broadcast on the big screen at the stadium. Zhang Reasonable sighed: "Today, Middleton's back-to-back singles are like Qiao's gang leader's possession, and this turn-back jumper is really picturesque." ”

Yu Jia said: "I think Yang Rui's biggest specialty is not to arrange tactics, but to cultivate newcomers, and many people who were not favored in the draft have been played under him." ”

This season, Middleton has been fully upgraded and is not just a pitcher. His flank defense has increased, and attacking with the ball is not a conventional weapon, but if he encounters someone who is poor in defense and inferior in height and arm span, he is definitely capable of teaching the opponent to behave.

Middleton had some low-post back-to-back shots in the regular season, scoring 0.88 points per round above the league average, but he shot less and was overlooked, and he also learned to play with his back to the shaft.

By the time people realized that this little-known man was the Spurs bitter master, the score had already been pulled apart.