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Golden State Warriors: How does Stephen Curry get so many open threes?

By Connor Littler

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 05: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors attempts a shot against the Toronto Raptors during Game Three of the 2019 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on June 05, 2019 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 05: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors attempts a shot against the Toronto Raptors during Game Three of the 2019 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on June 05, 2019 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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Golden State Warriors
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 05: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors attempts a shot against the Toronto Raptors during Game Three of the 2019 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on June 05, 2019 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

The Golden State Warriors do an incredible job of getting superstar point guard Stephen Curry many open looks from three per game. But how do they do it?

Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry got four wide-open three-pointers per game on average last season. FOUR! That’s absurd.

The defense plays so tight on Curry all the time, rightly so considering he’s the best shooter ever. So how on earth does he find the space for four wide-open threes every single night?

A wide-open three is defined as the shooter having six or more feet between himself and the nearest defender (per NBA.com). 4.0 attempts per game puts Curry at fourth in the league for all players who’ve played more than 20 games.

Ahead of him are Eric Gordon (5.5 attempts), Buddy Hield (4.3 attempts), and Brook Lopez (4.1 attempts). Those three are all good shooters, but they don’t get nearly as much attention as Curry gets from defenses.

Last season, the Warriors had Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson also on the court for considerable minutes and they will have taken some attention off of Curry, making the defense less likely to double team him.

However, Curry’s defender will never help off of Curry intentionally to play help defense on Durant of Thompson, or anyone else for that matter. This is how Gordon, Hield, and Lopez will have gotten most of their open looks.

Nobody could consider even helping off of Curry because unsurprisingly, he also led the league in three-point percentage from wide-open threes last season — amongst players who’d played more than 20 games and taken at least one wide-open three per game. Curry averaged 52.5% on these shots, which is just astronomical.

So how does he somehow get defenders to leave him so open all the time? Well, it’s not all about Curry. His teammates know that a Curry wide-open three is their most efficient shot, so they are all working constantly to get him that type of shot.

Curry gets some open shots in transition obviously, but it’s what the team does in the half-court that is most interesting. There are a number of clever ways that the offense is designed to do just that, which we’ll take a look at here.

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