Chapter 799: Deciding Victory from Afar
So when Curry went on a rampage on the court, a very strange scene emerged—the Celtics not only refused to double-team Curry, but also carried their single-coverage strategy through to the end, while tightening their defense on the Warriors' role players more and more. "Beep—" Kerr also knew that the Rockets' switching defense had failed to contain Curry, but in his view, that was because the Rockets lacked the defensive personnel and their switches were not good enough to stop him. Although the Celtics launched a ferocious comeback in the fourth quarter, the Warriors' earlier 13-point lead proved crucial. Within the motion offense, Kerr had voluntarily tied the hands of the Big Three, then turned around and used limitless single coverage to free Curry's hands. The enormous gap in talent between the Warriors and Celtics on paper was quietly erased, and the Celtics even fell behind. The more Curry scored, the less Kerr could allow the role players to get going as well. Otherwise, if they could stop neither the star nor the team, the Celtics' defense would fail completely. The Eastern Conference semifinals had previously provoked widespread outrage, forcing Silver to restrain himself somewhat. On a stage like the Finals, he did not dare to be too blatant. But no matter how great an individual's abilities were, they needed room to be unleashed. Bradley hurried after him, but he could not match Curry's speed. Durant and Leonard quickly collapsed to help. Curry's range was simply too deep. Against Jordan, defenders could pack the paint and crowd the midrange; no matter how great he was, he could not possibly make every shot over two or even three people. The basketball skimmed past the fingertips of Durant and Bradley, tracing a beautiful arc before dropping