In their thrilling victory over the Utah Jazz over the weekend, the Golden State Warriors picked apart one of the NBA's best defensive teams with a set the rest of the league should be terrified of.
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It begins with Stephen Curry dribbling the ball up court and Kevin Durant setting a screen on him well beyond the 3-point line. Durant then slowly rolls to the basket while Curry receives another ball screen, this time from one of Golden State's big men, usually Draymond Green.
That leaves Durant heading to the post while Green pops to the wing, Curry dribbles towards the middle of the court and the remaining Warriors — Klay Thompson and Jonas Jerebko in this example — draw their defenders out of the paint by spotting-up on the weakside:
From there, the Warriors have at least four options...
Option 1: The Stephen Curry Special
The first option is simple: Curry comes off of the second screen and pulls up for a 3-pointer.
Curry has long been one of the best long-range shooters off the dribble in the league. Those shots represented over a quarter of his offence last season and he made 41.4 percent of those opportunities. He was even better in 2015-16 when almost a third of his shot attempts were 3-point pull-ups and he made 43.8 percent of them.
We didn't see this option unfold against the Jazz, but there's no doubt that Curry has the green light to let it fly if he finds himself open.
Option 2: Another Stephen Curry Special
If Curry's defender manages to keep up with him after two screens, he passes the ball to Green, who then enters the ball to Durant in the low post.
Once Durant has the ball, Green sets a flare screen on Curry for him to curl towards Durant for a catch-and-shoot 3-point attempt:
Rudy Gobert is the player on the Jazz to watch on this option. With him backing way off of Green to protect the rim, it puts the pressure entirely on Joe Ingles to fight through Green's screen and prevent Curry from getting an open 3-pointer.
It's something almost every defender in the league struggles with, as Curry consistently ranks near the top of the league in scoring efficiency off of screens.
Ingles learned that the hard way on not one but two occasions in this game.
Option 3: They Forgot About Dray
This is probably the best outcome for the defence, but it still isn't a great one.
If Curry's defender doesn't give him an opportunity to run off of the second screen and Green's defender helps off of him, that leaves a capable shooter wide open on the 3-point line:
While Green is a streaky shooter from the perimeter — he's currently 1-for-7 from distance through four games this season — he's hit his fair share of 3-pointers in his career.
Even if he only knocks down one or two, it has a way of tilting the game in favour of the Warriors.
Green isn't the only one who can function as the screener — it's more important that the screener is the person being guarded by the opposing team's center — but having someone who can pick-and-pop adds another wrinkle to this set.
Option 4: Durant calls his own number
If all else fails, this turns into an isolation out of the post for Durant.
Durant is practically unstoppable with his back to the basket. According to NBA.com, he generated 8.7 percent of his offence in the post last season and ranked in the 77.0 percentile with an average of 0.97 points per possession.
You don't put up those numbers if you can't score in a variety of ways, beit with face-up jump shots or fadeaways over either shoulder.
In didn't happen on this particular possession, but the Warriors have Durant set a screen on Curry to begin the play to get a point guard switched onto him. It gives him an even greater advantage when it does happen, and it usually results in teams throwing multiple defenders at him and risking someone else on Golden State getting open.
Either way, whether it's a pass to a cutting Curry or an isolation for Durant, the Warriors are going to get a shot that the defence doesn't want to give up. It's what makes this set practically unguardable.
