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3 adjustments Warriors need to make to stay alive against Thunder

Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty

As the famous saying by Rudy Tomjanovich goes, never underestimate the heart of a champion.

But here are the reigning champs laying on the mat, beaten to a pulp by the Oklahoma City Thunder, staggering to beat the standing eight-count of a 3-1 series deficit.

The Golden State Warriors need to pull off a near miracle to stay alive. But if there's any team capable of the impossible, it's the record-shattering 73-win Warriors.

Here's three adjustments to be made in order to stay alive after Game 5:

Value possession

Call it a necessary evil of the Warriors' breakneck pace, but they have a habit of being sloppy with the basketball. They've committed 35 turnovers in their last two games leading to 36 points in transition for the Thunder.

In so many words, the Thunder are doing a lot of this:

Credit the Thunder for being absurdly long and athletic. The Warriors lamented after Game 3 that OKC's length is forcing them to thread the needle with their passes, and with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant stepping up on the defensive end, executing even the simplest of sets isn't a given.

That being said, there's no other option for the Warriors. They can't get bigger and stronger to make up the difference in personnel - they can only get more disciplined. Golden State is already hemorrhaging on the offensive glass - they can't afford to further widen the possession gap by gifting the Thunder careless turnovers.

Let Curry handle the ball

The old-timers must be thrilled: somebody is finally beating up Stephen Curry.

The Thunder are grabbing, holding, switching, and mostly, they're staying glued to Curry when he's off the ball. Call it the "Curry Rules," because the Thunder have a special playbook for how to make life hell for the two-time MVP.

The solution to all that would be to keep Curry on the ball. That's not how the pass-happy Warriors typically play, but it's better to have Curry initiate plays than to be shut out altogether.

Granted, the Thunder are hounding Curry even when he does have the ball. He typically operates in the pick-and-roll, and in isolation - the Thunder have guarded both those situations beautifully. They're trapping Curry when he comes off screens, and even when bigs have been left on an island against Curry (which typically results in "BBQ Chicken"), he's still been unable to punish the Thunder for their mismatches.

But again, it's up to the Warriors to execute. The formula has worked all year because Curry either demands the defense to double, or to concede mismatches when he plays off a screen. Even with him struggling (and potentially injured) Curry is still the Warriors' best weapon.

And in order for him to scramble the defense, Curry has to have the ball first.

Value rim protection

It's simply too much to ask a struggling Draymond Green to protect the basket all by himself. That's in large part why Golden State's vaunted Death Lineup is getting crushed.

Over a third of OKC's shot attempts have come within the restricted area in this series. Even on contested shots around the rim, the Thunder are still shooting 64.3 percent. Contrast that to the 50.4 percent mark conceded by the Warriors in the regular season.

The defensive issues in the frontcourt have also forced the Warriors into foul trouble. The Thunder have tried an average of 32 free throws per game in the series.

It tracks back to the personnel on the floor. Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli have played a combined 26 minutes per game in the series owing to intentional fouling strategies. The Warriors need their best rim protectors on the floor to stop the Thunder at what they do best, but instead, it's been Harrison Barnes, Marreese Speights, and inexplicably, Anderson Varejao waiting at the basket.

That's not going to get it done. The Warriors need to find a way to play their centers more minutes. There's no other way to stop the Thunder's parade to the basket.

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