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Thank goodness the Denver Nuggets-Golden State Warriors game was a not very close one.
For the last six games, we've felt obligated to break down a game sealing play. Today, we talk about something more basic, which is a set the Warriors run to get Harrison Barnes (and Shaun Livingston) shots. Barnes says that last year he was "terrible" at this play, so it's interesting that the Warriors are still running it for him.
The Seven Seconds Or Less Suns
To set up this play, we have to go WAY back.
Mike D'Antoni designed the thrilling offense from the mid-2000's Phoenix Suns, quarterbacked by current Warriors coach Steve Nash. The most beautiful offense of its time, it has become known by the name "7 Seconds Or Less" from the title of the book by Jack McCallum which followed the 2005-2006 Suns season. I'm going to call it 7SOL for the rest of this piece.
- ...the early offense formations (drag screens)
- ...Pistol/21 action (1 fires a pass to 2 on the wing who immediately gets a screen)
- ...and the Delay series (looks like a post-cross where the "post" is on the perimeter)
- ...plus indirectly many pieces through the Spurs Offense
The Question of Harrison Barnes
"Everyone asks, ‘Someone is really going to pay all that for a guy who can’t run the pick-and-roll?’" Barnes tells Grantland, laughing. "But I don’t worry much. I’m confident I will get better at it."Barnes just hasn’t looked comfortable driving with the ball, and he knows it. He gets tunnel vision, forcing up shots when easy passes are available. He doesn’t have the fluid change of pace the best ball handlers use to prod defenses open. He sometimes spooks at the first sight of a help defender, as if he’s afraid to make mistakes. He doesn’t appear to feel the game. What happens when defenses trap him against the pick-and-roll? Or go under picks, daring him to can off-the-dribble 3s?The Warriors gave Barnes a bunch of chances at little elbow pick-and-rolls when he slid to power forward, and they too often went nowhere. "I’m terrible at that play," Barnes says, laughing. "Luke Walton [a Golden State assistant] and I literally joke about how bad I am at it."
Again With Feeling
Disguising HORNS
HORNS with surprise Shaun Livingston
To show the Warriors are serious about the deception, here is a play the Warriors ran just before the Barnes Elbow Get. You'll see the play starts very similarly: Three men across the top, passing the ball across, then back again. Meanwhile the team gets into HORNS, two bigs at the elbows, two smalls in the corners. The ball is fed to Barnes at the elbow again. But instead of getting a cross-screen from Ezeli, the following happens.
You can see that in this variation, the left corner man clears out and Shaun Livingston gets the ball with room to work on the left side, with a pick available to him. In this case, he gets a little pick and roll. In many other cases, Livingston will post up on the low left block and go to work. This is one of the main ways that the Warriors get plays for Shaun Livingston.
Final Thoughts
- the history with the 7 Seconds Or Less offense
- the question of Barnes creating offense
- the question of how to involve Shaun Livingston in the offense
- the ways the Warriors try to begin different plays with the same look to confuse the defense
- Shoutout to @halfcourthoops whose YouTube collections save me hours searching for old video clips of plays (and where I got the Suns clips)
- Here's a longer discussion of the play by Coach Nick on-court.
The Explain One Play Series So Far
Offense
- Explain One Play: Thunderous Green-Ezeli Alley-oop Dunk (Recycled Double Screen)
- Explain 1 Play: Busted Elevator = Draymond Wins (Elevator Doors, Baseline Out of Bounds)
- Explain One Play: Curry & Green's Favorite Play (High Pick and Roll)
- Explain 1 Play: Iguodala's Last-Gasp 3 Saves W's (Split Screen, Sideline Out of Bounds)
- Explain 1 Play: Awesome Curry Bank Shot And-1 (Warriors Rip, Floppy, Curl)
- Explain One Play: Curry Screen = Barnes Dunk AGAIN (Warriors Rip)
- Explain One Play: Warriors + Floppy = Klay 3 (Floppy)
- One Play: Warriors + Triangle Offense = Barnes 3 (Post-Cross/Guard Squeeze)
- One Play: The W's Stop and Steal a Clippers Play (High HORNS)
- One Play: That Absurd No-Look Backwards Curry Pass (Simple Pick and Roll)
- One Play: 2 Spurs Recipes + Curry = Klay 3 (Hammer and Triple Loop)
- One Warriors Play: Spurs Play + Curry = Bogut Dunk (Motion Strong)
- Two Wild Threes from a Wild Game Three (Post-Cross)
- How the Warriors fought the blitz in Boston, Brooklyn (HORNS, Pick and Roll, Blitz)
- Understanding the Warriors Weave (The Weave!)
- Notes on Turnovers: The Movie!
- Notes on GSW's New Offense: Deception & Motion (HORNS and Post-Cross)
- Notes on the Warriors' new offense: Feeding the post (Basic Principles, Post-Cross)
Defense
- Explain One Play: Curry & Green's Favorite Play (High Pick and Roll)
- Explain One Play: Warriors Swarm Drummond (Post Double Teams)
- Guardin' Harden: The New Warriors Defense (Strong Side Goalie)
- Breakdown of Wild Ending of Rockets-Warriors G2 (Perimeter Double Team)
- Slowing (and Freeing) Anthony Davis: A chess match (Strong Side Goalie)
- Barnes Plays Big and Bold (and Bad) (Strong Side Goalie, Switching)
- Steph Curry Is Awesome At Defense (Post Switches)
- Notes on the Warriors' defense (ICE, Switching and Sagging)