Matt Steinmetz

Look, when the team you’re writing about never loses, it sometimes gets tough to come up with things to talk or write about. How many times can you describe Stephen Curry’s greatness? How often can you talk about Draymond Green’s incredible two-way play? How frequently can you repeat how picture-perfect Klay Thompson’s jump shot is?

After a while, you need a break from the accolades, you know?

The Warriors are now 23-0 and over the course of the past few weeks, we’ve all been thinking more about how to defend this team – whether you should switch or try to play as much straight-up man-to-man as possible, whether to pick up Curry full court or wait until he crosses halfcourt, whether to match their smallness with smallness or try to go big against them?

So, here’s what I was thinking … If there’s a group of Warriors’ fans I appreciate, it’s the ones who suffered through the lean years beginning in the mid 1990s and running through to the “We Believe” Team. The Warriors missed the playoffs for 12 consecutive years during one stretch, and those fans who endured those teams are the ones who likely most appreciate what’s going on with the Warriors now.

After 23 games, I’m convinced the best way to try to beat the Warriors is to play them man-to-man and switch as little as possible. It’s up to individuals to guard their men and do the least amount of helping possible.

So, between thinking of this and thinking of old Warriors teams, I asked myself: How would Golden State’s best defensive players of the past 20 years do against this team? Which former Warriors players would I put on these Warriors players? Here’s how I’d match up – using former Warriors dating back to 1995 – with this Golden State team.

Feel free to disagree or, if you want, go back further than 20 years and tell me who might have done a good defensive job against current Warriors. And, remember, we’re just talking defense here – not about an all-around matchup.

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