Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson received well-deserved recognition after his jump shot with less than a second left sealed a 102-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. As the clock expired, he caught the ball in a one-on-one situation against smaller Sacramento guard Davion Mitchell, and Thompson rose over the top as the Chase Center crowd exploded as the ball went through the net .
It was a signature, beautiful pull-up from Thompson, his fifth career go-ahead shot in the final 10 seconds of the game. What you may not have noticed, however, was Stephen Curry’s subtle, selfless decision that helped create the necessary space for Thompson’s game-winning player.
We’ll walk you through the piece:
As he crossed the half of the court, trailing by a point, with just under nine seconds left, Curry saw his former teammate Harrison Barnes running to him and trapping him next to big man Domantas Sabonis. Without doing too much, Curry leaves the ball to Draymond Green, a scenario the Warriors have executed countless times over the last decade.
“I think the most important thing is to be patient in situations like this,” Green said after the game. “The whole idea of the trap is to speed you up and take the ball out of Steph’s hands so it goes into someone else’s hands. So for me it’s just about understanding where the clock is and knowing that we still have plenty of time to go.” “A great shot. No panic. Don’t just start getting confused. So I just wanted to stay the course and see if anyone opened up.”
Next, after Sabonis sprints to recover into the ground, Curry makes his way toward the ball. He even has a step on Barnes as you can see in the image below, but Green doesn’t feel like he has a safe enough window to make the pass.
This is where Curry’s basketball IQ and team-first mentality come into play. After he missed his cut with less than five seconds left, many players – especially superstars – did one of two things: 1) run toward Green to try to take the ball away from him, or 2) make fun of it that he hadn’t gotten the ball, either standing still or jogging slowly until the clock ran out.
Instead, Curry continues to sprint hard down the lane, knowing that Barnes will wisely hold on to him, which will free up the vacated area for someone else – in this case, Thompson. Look at how much space there is in the middle of the floor for him to operate.
“It’s just confidence,” Curry said after Wednesday’s win. “I was caught halfway up the pitch, got it out of my hands, Draymond was looking down the pitch. I cut through, I’m not open.” [Chris Paul] was spaced out. [Gary Payton II is] in the dunker spot and Klay on the other wing. Someone will open up because as long as we don’t turn it over, we usually get a good chance.”
This is what the entire sequence looked like in real time.
This may seem like a simple basketball play from Curry and we give him way too much credit for someone else’s success, but you’d be surprised at how often players immediately retreat from the game after being caught. Here’s a look at a similar situation – albeit not involving a potentially game-winning possession – from Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, who is often criticized for his lack of movement off the ball.
Young is trapped in the half of the court as the shot clock expires, and he passes the ball up just like Curry did. But look what Young does after that…absolutely nothing. He slowly backs away as the two defenders who caught him sprint back into the game.
The overall offensive advantage of a blitz is that if the trapped player can successfully pass out of the attack, his team now has a four-on-three advantage. But because Young completely withdraws from the play while defenders push back, the Hawks are now actually down four-on-five.
One of the reasons the Warriors are so good when Curry is on the floor is that the gravity of his off-ball movement creates open shots and lanes for his teammates. As you can see from Thompson’s game-winner, Curry is simply taught to keep moving at all times, even when he’s stuck or missed on a cut through the lane.
“Sometimes I might try to force a shot there. But when you see the way the defense is playing you, you let it go,” Curry explained. “Klay cuts in the middle at the right moment. We also have confidence in this shot. So everything worked out great considering how they defended us.”