If a loss is a loss is a loss, then the Detroit Pistons did nothing to distinguish themselves in Monday’s game against the Warriors — yes, a 109-95 loss to the defending champions. But if you’re into even just a little bit more scrutiny than that, you’ll see that the Pistons didn’t do a bad job of defending the Warriors.
In fact, the Pistons may have provided the best blue-print to date on how to (possibly) beat the Warriors (possibly). Now, before we even begin, executing this plan doesn’t ensure success against the Warriors, as you can see by what happened to Detroit. But Detroit’s overall strategy and approach is the best way to go ahead and take a stab at Golden State, a team that is 91-20 since the start of last season and has won 23 games in a row at Oracle regular-season games in a row at Oracle.
For the most part, the Pistons played straight-up, man-to-man defense, relying on the simple principle of everybody just guard your guy. Period. No gimmicks, as little switching as possible, no over-helping, and quite frankly, sometimes you’re on your own — even if you are guarding Stephen Curry.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, an athletic 6-foot-5 shooting guard, was asked to do that simple, yet ridiculously complex thing: Guard Curry. Just guard him – you, all by yourself. And Caldwell-Pope was terrific on defense, and Curry was ordinary by Curry standards. It’s not that simple, of course, but on this night that’s what happened. And it’s how you have to play the Warriors — one-on-one, with as little deviation as possible — if you want to beat the Warriors in either a game or a series.
You have to put the onus on an individual player to defend Curry, and then by extension ask/demand the other four players to at least do the same with their men – who, by the way, aren’t as good as Curry. So, that’s the least they should be able to do, right?
Matt Steinmetz 