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The Golden State Warriors weren't even 10 seconds into the shot clock when a fed up Steve Kerr decided he'd seen enough. The third quarter wasn't two minutes old, and the Dubs' two-possession deficient had only extended to seven points since halftime began. There was still ample time for Golden State to not only salvage that specific offensive trip, but certainly fight their way back for a crucial, comeback victory over the Houston Rockets at Chase Center.
Anyone watching the Warriors' hard-fought April 6th battle with the Rockets up to that point, though, surely understood stood why Kerr felt compelled to call such an early timeout. How often does Stephen Curry simply submit to being taken out of the play off-ball, hanging his less qualified teammates out to dry offensively?
Not much changed for Golden State over the game's remainder. Curry went scoreless, missing each of his next seven shots while accounting for more turnovers than assists in his worst game of the season. The Warriors fell 106-96 to the Rockets, losing pivotal ground in the race for a top-six spot in the Western Conference standings.
The Dubs are set to tipoff their first-round playoff series with Houston two weeks later at Toyota Center. Betting lines have already shifted further their direction leading up to Sunday's Game 1, with an easy majority of fans and analysts alike also expecting them to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals.
Golden State is always the hunted this time of year, postseason seeding be damned. And as Curry learned in San Francisco earlier this month, no defender preys on perimeter stars with the the ferocity of Amen Thompson.
“That’s why he’s out there for 30-plus minutes a night, because that’s how he helps them win,” Curry said after the game of the Rockets' rising star. “He’s kind of relentless, he’s a supreme athlete, and has found his lane on, again, how he can be impactful. So you tip your hat to him, and he’s gotten a lot better every time you face him.”
Is Amen Thompson the Steph Curry stopper?
The Warriors better cross their fingers that Thompson doesn't take yet another step forward in his first taste of postseason basketball. He absolutely suffocated Curry the last time these teams clashed, holding the greatest shooter of all-time to just three points on 1-of-10 shooting with eight assists and four turnovers. All but two of Curry's field goal attempts came from beyond the arc, and his lone make was a leaning 37-footer before the halftime buzzer as Thompson watched from the bench.
Maybe the best indication that Thompson had Curry in a straitjacket? Much to his team's mass chagrin, Curry didn't shoot a single free throw and drew one, solitary foul in Golden State's fifth and final meeting—a pair of which he missed early in the season—with Houston before the playoffs.
It's not the first time this season Curry wasn't himself against the Warriors' first-round foe. He managed 46 total points over his two previous tilts with the Rockets, shooting 44.1% overall and 36.3% from beyond the arc in basketball brawls that left Golden State's offense gasping for air.
Thompson was still coming off the bench during Houston's dramatic one-point win over the Dubs in mid-December. Two months later, less than a week after the trade for Jimmy Butler, the shorthanded Rockets fell to the Warriors as diminutive backup guard Aaron Holiday played the role of Curry's primary defender.
With Curry on a scorching heater and major postseason implications on the line, Ime Udoka deployed a much different defensive approach against Golden State back on April 6th. After checking him for a combined three minutes and 53 seconds in their two prior matchups, per NBA.com/stats, Thompson was sicced on Curry for a team-high four minutes and 13 seconds in the Rockets' statement win, burgeoning his worthy yet overlooked case for Defensive Player of the Year.
“He’d been on a heater lately, so obviously we wanted to pay him more attention,” Udoka said of Curry on the postgame podium. “When you got a special guy like Amen Thompson doing what he does, that’s the result.”
Matchup data is easily misleading. The stats say Curry took only three shots with Thompson as his primary defender, an alarmingly low number, but the film reveals an even more problematic dynamic for Golden State under those circumstances.
Curry attempted nothing but pull-up threes while being “guarded” by Thompson, deceptive labeling considering he only felt comfortable letting fly under that duress with the help of an on-ball screen. He actually didn't take a shot directly on Thompson in the Warriors' late-season loss.
Can you really blame Curry for his hesitancy to attack Thompson otherwise? “Supreme,” Curry's phrasing, somehow doesn't quite do the sophomore wing's mind-bending physical exploits justice.
Standing 6'7 with a seven-foot wingspan, Thompson officially weighed in at 214 pounds during the 2023 NBA Draft Combine, making him some 30 pounds heavier than Curry. It's hard to imagine any player in professional sports boasts more quick-twitch athleticism than Thompson, including his twin brother.
If Victor Wembanyama is a basketball alien arrived from outer space, Thompson might as well be a basketball god plucked from ancient Greek mythology. There's never been another NBA athlete like him.
Thompson's otherworldly athletic gifts would've posed problems for Curry in his prime. Now 37, fighting off Father Time as well as nagging knee tendonitis, it's no surprise that Curry would often rather play glorified decoy—by play design and real-time exasperation—than involve a defender of Thompson's ultra-destructive caliber in the Warriors' offense.
Look at Thompson velcroed to a stationary Curry on the weak side from these Golden State possessions on April 6th. He even denies a backcourt entry pass to Curry in the first clip, then subtly re-positions Jabari Smith Jr. to prevent a back screen from Curry for Gary Payton II on the next one.
Curry, who revolutionized the game with his tireless off-ball movement, once again stays put.
The Warriors are far more equipped to thrive playing what amount to 4-on-4 with Butler in the fold. The mere presence of Curry adds more latent offensive value than that of any player in league history.
Still, Golden State's hopes of taking down the Rockets are bound to be dashed unless Curry shoulders a much heavier offensive load than he did when these teams went toe-to-toe in San Francisco a couple weeks ago.
Warriors must be wary of Amen Thompson off-ball, too
Expect the Dubs put Curry through an even deeper, more intricate maze of off-ball screens in the first round, trying over and over to free him from Thompson's shackles via switch. They'll surely strive to keep Curry fresh—and limit the chance for in-bound disasters—by having Brandin Podziemski, Butler and Draymond Green regularly bring the ball up the floor, too.
Forcing Thompson off Curry won't be some offensive panacea for the Dubs, though. Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet have ample postseason experience guarding Curry, while Tari Eason and Smith own the blend of length and quickness to at least make life tough on him. Houston arguably features more viable defenders of Curry than any team he's ever faced in the postseason.
It's also not like Thompson is Lu Dort or OG Anunoby, the type of elite perimeter stopper whose All-Defense level impact wanes away from the ball. Whether having just switched off Curry seconds earlier or getting a lengthier respite from the toughest defensive assignment in the league, the Warriors must account for where he is at all times.
The quickness and accuracy of Thompson's hands digging down for steals rival Green's, and he gets off the floor for help blocks faster than any player the league has ever seen.
What's Golden State's antidote for Amen Thompson?
Houston will likely alter its defensive strategy as the series wears on, switching screens for Curry more readily at times and probably toggling through his primary defender on game-by-game and possession-by-possession bases. Thompson won't have to be attached to Curry from tip off of Game 1 until the first round comes to a close—a luxury for the Rockets afforded by his unsurpassed defensive versatility, plus their depth of quality perimeter defenders behind him.
They'll be prepared to switch one-through-four if Thompson falls behind Curry or the game plan calls for it, but definitely don't want Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams left on that lonely island. Look for the Dubs to frequently involve Houston's centers in on and off-ball screening actions for Curry, even when Houston has orchestrated defensive matchups to stash Sengun on Moses Moody.
Green and Butler, obviously, are Golden State's preferred pick-and-roll partners for Curry, which is why the Rockets will largely guard them with Brooks, VanVleet, Eason and Smith. Going at any of those guys one-on-one or in subsequent offensive actions is a better proposition for Curry than daring to try Thompson.
Even best-laid plans get thwarted under the playoff microscope. The Rockets won't be able to keep Sengun and Adams away from the play or on the back-line forever, which makes the short-roll success of Green, Moody, Gary Payton II, Kevon Looney and potentially a dusted-off Jonathan Kuminga so significant.
If there's an “easy” button for Curry that should give him space from Thompson, it will come in the form of ball screens set by role players who are guarded by Houston's centers. Unfortunately for the Dubs, Curry's other frequent pick-and-roll partners don't finish at the rim and pass on the move like Payton.
Surprise back picks laid down before he crosses half court could give Curry much-needed breathing room from Thompson when he's bringing the ball up.
Just a random, backcourt brush screen from Green did that job enough for him to beat Thompson on this possession from that hard-fought NBA Cup game in early December.
The Dubs will do whatever they can to limit the amount of time Curry spends tangling with Thompson. There is no fool-proof means of successful offense against a defender like Thompson and defense like the Rockets', though.
The Oakland native is headed toward the historic level of greatness among non-bigs defensively that Kawhi Leonard reached for a few years in the mid-2010s, a reality Thompson seems bound to force the basketball world to realize by the time this toss-up series is finished. Being surrounded by a bevy of solid, flexible defenders allows him to show off the full breadth of that generational ability from baseline to baseline, too.
Curry could be in for the toughest individual playoff test of his career against Houston. It's a testament to his incredible longevity near the top of the league's hierarchy that there's a chance Curry passes it in his 16th season, all but guaranteeing Golden State moves on to the Western Conference Semifinals. He can still be that good.
It's not possible for Thompson to be the one chasing, grabbing and clawing at Curry every moment they're on the floor together, either. Switches onto Curry defensively are inevitable for Houston even if Udoka stresses the need to avoid them and Kerr would rather avoid heavy doses of ball screens and matchup hunting.
Thompson smothered Curry during these teams' recent dress rehearsal, just like he did most opposing superstars across the 82-game grind. With Playoff Jimmy wearing blue and gold, maybe most encouraging for the rebuilt Warriors as the first round dawns is the notion they could get past the young, shooting-starved Rockets despite that fate befalling Curry again.
