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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
TORONTO, ONTARIO – JUNE 10: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors attempts a shot against the Toronto Raptors in the second half during Game Five of the 2019 NBA Finals at Scotiabank Arena on June 10, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. 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 Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

3. Helping Off Big Men

The last clever way that Curry gets open is by using the opposition’s own defensive scheme against them. The Warriors have two or three good shooters on the floor at most usually.

This means they have a few non-shooters or weak shooters on the floor all the time. Defenses usually help off of these players in order to pay more attention to Curry, Thompson, and Durant last season (it’ll be D’Angelo Russell next season).

Draymond Green was amongst the weak shooters last season with a 28.5% three-point percentage last season. Despite not shooting well, he still plays most of the game on the perimeter.

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Players helped off of Green when a player got into the lane, collapsing the defense. This meant that Green was left more or less alone on the perimeter.

When this happened Curry realized that there would be no defensive help if Green was the one to set a screen for Curry off the ball. Assuming Curry’s man got held up on the screen, it would be up to Green’s defender to guard Curry and make sure he cannot take a shot.

But since Green’s defender is miles away, there is no one to guard Curry, which is exactly what the defense was trying to avoid by helping off of Green and other non-shooters.

It’s a similar concept that Kevon Looney uses all the time, particularly in their post-split sets as well as in open play. Here you see how Meyers Leonard constantly helped off of Looney, which left no one to help on Curry.

It’s similar to a big man playing drop-coverage in pick-and-roll. This is where the big man drops back deep into the paint to protect against the drive, but it allows open shots from three and mid-range.

This is not a coverage that any team should ever play against Curry obviously because of his elite shooting ability. This is something you might do against Russell Westbrook or Dennis Schroder, but never against Curry.

Next. Golden State Warriors: Breaking down the signing of Andrew Harrison. dark

It’s a death sentence in the pick-and-roll, but yet teams will still give up a very similar situation here by helping off the Warriors’ big men.

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