OAKLAND, Calif. _ Playoff games bring a more intensified atmosphere than regular-season games. That often breeds more focused, physical defensive play as the stakes grow higher.
Against the Warriors, who are built on skill and shooting, that's regularly the opposing gameplan: knock them off their spot, shove them around, toss them off their game even if that means a few extra foul calls. Will that negatively affect Golden State in the playoffs? Andre Iguodala, a physical defender himself, doesn't think so.
"Are they going to call it loose or call it tight?" Iguodala said. "You just have to gauge how it goes in the first quarter. But I feel like for us, guys are always grappling and holding (even in the regular season). Steph (Curry) gets grabbed and held more than anybody I've seen and they get away with it. It's almost like we're used to it. It's kind of like we finally have the opportunity to be just as aggressive and I feel like it works in our favor."
Iguodala then went back to his point about Curry, who he says is defended differently than many players across the league and he must "be smart" about dealing with that.
"There's a few players in the league who try to get into that grappling with Steph and he gets competitive and wants to pick them up full-court and the first time it's a foul," Iguodala said. "They're not in the playoffs, so I'd say Ricky Rubio. He always gets in a grabbing match with Steph and then Steph guards him full court and Rubio's crafty so he'll be hooking (arms) and Steph gets called with the foul. So you just have to be smart about it."
