The Golden State Warriors are really, really good at basketball. In fact, they’re historically good: they’ve started the season 22-0 (and counting), the best start in the history of the NBA. Game after game, we’re seeing Stephen Curry and his team drain impossible threes and defeat the opposition, all while defending the NBA Championship that they earned last season.
But the Warriors weren’t always this good. As recently as the 2011-2012 season, the Warriors lost more games than they won. Stephen Curry was on that team, too, but very little of the Warriors’ current greatness was visible then. So what happened? How did the Warriors become historically good?
The Rise of Stephen Curry
While Curry has been with the Warriors since being drafted in 2009, he didn’t become a superstar until a little later in his career. Curry became a bigger part of this team when the Warriors traded away Monta Ellis and other members of the Warriors’ old core during the 2011-12 season. Curry became co-captain and saw his role with the team expand. Curry, who had always started and played a lot of minutes with the Warriors, now started taking more shots. Before 2012-13, the highest shots per game rate he ever recorded was 14.3. From 2012-13 on, he’s never averaged fewer than 16.8 in a season.
Freed by the Warriors new tactics (more on those in a moment), Curry had a shooting renaissance. He’s averaged around eight three-point attempts per game from 2012-13 to present, after averaging less than five per game in his career before that. Curry’s superb perimeter shooting – and his willingness to take those shots – has been a staple of Golden State’s excellent offense.
Steve Kerr and the Brilliant Golden State Offense
Curry’s hard work and talent have been key, but Curry also owes a debt to Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who figured out how to best utilize Curry’s precision shooting.
Curry was already one of the league’s best players when Steve Kerr arrived in 2014 – that transformation happened on Mark Jackson’s watch – but Kerr took things to the next level, making Curry’s elite shooting work for the Warriors as never before. Kerr has fine-tuned the Warriors lineup and draws up plays that give Curry the best chance to succeed. The Warriors run plays that give Curry good looks, while still giving him escape outlets if the opposition closes down his shot.
Kerr also significantly improved the Warriors’ defense, and that’s been a key part of their dominance.
Defense, Defense, Defense
Under Kerr’s watch, his players – including Curry – have improved significantly on defense. The Warriors, who were ahead of the curve in discovering the importance of the three-point shot, were also ahead of the curve in figuring out how to stop it.
In fact, the Warriors are currently one of the best two teams in the league at stopping opponents from sinking threes (the San Antonio Spurs are the other). Combined with their ability to jump out to leads using three-pointers, that’s a backbreaker. The Warriors will force you to play from behind, then take away your highest-scoring options.
This defense is perhaps the most underrated and most important part of the Warriors’ formula. Stephen Curry’s perimeter shooting supremacy is the perfect match for the Warriors’ stingy defense, and Steve Kerr’s strategies make sure both keep working well. It’s an unbeatable competition, and the Warriors are unbeatable, too: 20-0 and counting.
