Explain One Play: Durant-Curry One-Two Punch

Down the stretch of their win against the L.A. Clippers, the Golden State Warriors made no secret that they were going to run their Double Punch play repeatedly until LAC stopped it. Which was never, so GSW ran the play to the end of the game.

Luckily, we just broke this play down last week (not to mention repeatedly since last November). It always starts with a wing double screen, usually for Stephen Curry by Kevin Durant and one other lucky participant. The first option is for Curry to roam free and shoot, but defenses usually stick to Curry, so the second option is to swing the ball to Durant in the post. He’s often switched onto Curry’s original defender. Then Curry runs split cuts with someone with Durant as the post passer. If that’s guarded, the Durant goes to work in the post. So compared to the pick-and-roll that Kerr dislikes, Double Punch brings one more player into the action, though it still leaves two players spotting up on the weak side.

Here’s a short video breakdown. Watch Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant close out the LA Clippers with the same repeated play. We highlighting subtle fakes, defensive mistakes, and the suffering bickering Clippers players and coaches. Co-starring Draymond Green and DeAndre Jordan.

(alternate YouTube link)