Stephen Curry Golden State Warriors Screen / Dribble Hand-off Play
Steve Kerr has gotten a ton of credit for turning the Golden State Warriors into consistent playoff team into one of the best regular season teams of all time. The Warriors won a league best 67 games en route to the overall #1 seed in the NBA. They were led by their offense that averaged scored a league best 110 points per game and had an efficiency rating of 109.7 points-per-possession(2nd in the league to the Clippers by one tenth of a point). Part of their transformation has been due in large part to Stephen Curry turning himself into the favorite to win the NBA MVP. Curry averaged 24 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists while shooting a scorching 44% from 3 point range.
One of the primary reasons for the offensive explosion has obviously been individual improvements by so many key guys but also installing a high octane motion offense that thrives off movement and continuity. Rather than have Stephen Curry stand on one side of the floor or in an isolation play as previous staffs have done, Kerr has Stephen Curry constantly on the move and always posing a threat to the defense. One of the ways that Kerr has gotten Stephen Curry good shots has to been to use him a screener and put pressure on the defense to defend an initial action.
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Both sets that we show here involve a secondary break where the ball is passed to a trailing big. Either the 4 or 5 trail the play on any given possession. In this first set Stephen Curry is the ball handler and reverses the ball to the trailing big. He then enters into an exchange with Klay Thompson on the strong side wing. A variety of options occur usually depending on the defense. Any time you can get an exchange with 2 players who both shoot over 40% from 3(Thompson shoots 43.9%) it puts tremendous pressure on the defense. In the first clip Curry sets a screen and Thompson curls over the top. The Memphis defenders do a good job chasing the play and not switching. The second clip Thompson back cuts forcing Minnesota to switch and puts Curry’s defender a step behind him.
After the exchange, Stephen Curry turns back and enters into a dribble hand off with the big at the 3 point line. The help side defenders are occupied by a down screen that occurs simultaneously on the weak side making it almost impossible to load up on help. Mike Conley on Memphis makes the big mistake of going under the dribble hand off and Curry steps behind the screen for a wide open 3. Minnesota is late chasing Curry and he is able to turn the corner and get all the way to the rim.
In the second set Andre Iguodala is the ball handler and passes the ball to the trailing big in the secondary break. Iguodala then gets a back screen from Curry at the elbow area. Golden State’s spacing has the 2 players on the weak side positioned a little bit higher than previous play not allowing the help to drop back in the paint in case Iggy is open on the back screen. The first two clips Minnesota and the Los Angeles Lakers switch the back screen and put them in good position to chase Curry as he enters in the dribble hand off. The Atlanta Hawks do a good job staying attached and keeping their original match ups. As Curry enters into a dribble hand off, down screen is set for Thompson on the weak side occupying the help defense.
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Coach John Zall just completed his first season as an Assistant Coach at Division II Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH. This past season Franklin Pierce University won 20 games and advanced to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. Zall arrived at Franklin Pierce after spending the past 3 seasons as the Associate Head Coach/Head JV Coach at O’Bryant High school in Roxbury, MA. During his tenure at O’Bryant the program improved from 4 wins to 12 wins and qualified for the MIAA State Tournament twice.
Coach Zall also has experience as an AAU Head Coach for the Boston Warriors. As Head Coach for the Warriors his team won the 2011 16U State Title and twice competed in AAU Nationals down in Orlando, FL. On top of being a student at Northeastern University, Zall was named Head Coach of the Men’s Club Basketball team for the 2012-13 season. During his lone season as Head Coach, Northeastern finished second in the Northeast Regional Tournament featuring colleges from throughout the East Coast. Coach Zall has also spent time as a Head Coach in the Bay State Games where his team won the Bronze Medal in 2012 and at various camps including: Five Star, Boston Celtics, NIKE, Franklin Pierce University, Hoop Group and The Elite 75.
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