Rockets must rethink their defensive strategy against Stephen Curry

The Houston Rockets need to go back to the drawing board.

Stephen Curry set fire to their defensive plan in Game 1, dropping a game-high 34 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field.

It's not just that Curry went off - he does that against everyone, scoring 34 or more points 10 times this season. When he gets into his zone, Curry is damn near unstoppable, and that's what makes him the MVP.

But Chef Curry cooked the Rockets in Game 1 without needing to go supernova. He squirmed free for 13 field-goal attempts (per NBA Stats) on Tuesday, a surefire recipe for a roasting, and many of the ingredients came from the Rockets' defensive strategy.

Houston tried to stop Curry with the ancient duo of Pablo Prigioni and Jason Terry, but predictably, the two seniors couldn't keep up. When guarded by either Terry or Prigioni in the halfcourt, Curry scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

The Warriors love running Curry through a maze of baseline screens, which left Terry and Prigioni in the dust. Simple actions like double pin-downs created wide-open looks for Curry.

(Courtesy: ESPN)

Curry also burned Terry and Prigioni on isolations. The Rockets can't afford Curry this much daylight on blow-bys: his handles are too slick, he's too quick and he's far too skilled a shotmaker.

The Rockets tried to throw a different look at Curry on pick-and-rolls. Instead of trapping him up high, as most teams do, Houston opted to switch, biting the bullet by pitting a big against him.

As a whole, the Rockets found some success by switching. Curry shot 4-of-9 in the halfcourt when guarded by a big, scoring just 10 points, and the Rockets were successful in contesting Curry's threes, although he feasted off dribble drives.

The problem, as seen in the play above, is that the Rockets' guards didn't make enough of an effort to stick with Curry. They were too willing to concede switches, leaving their bigs on an island.

Switching also caused problems when Curry reset after initial pick-and-roll action. Houston's bigs were diligent in stopping Curry while he had the ball, but became completely confused when forced to chase him around screens.

Voluntarily switching also drew a big away from the basket, which opened up offensive rebounding opportunities for Golden State. The Warriors are normally fairly conservative in crashing the glass (21st in offensive rebounding percentage), but they snagged three offensive rebounds off Curry's five misses on switches.

Siccing Trevor Ariza or Corey Brewer on Curry is an option. They're tenacious defenders with the quickness to keep up and the length to contest his pull-ups. The two effectively blanketed Klay Thompson, holding him to 6-of-18 shooting, but the MVP is the deadlier threat of the two.

Curry is obviously a nightmare defensive assignment. But the Rockets would be better served sticking a capable defender - not Prigioni, not Terry, not switching a big - on Curry, because their plan in Game 1 was nothing but a recipe for disaster.