With the Warriors and Cavs
facing off in the finals for the 3rd straight year, it’s been fun
being able to watch two completely different styles of basketball facing off
against each other.
On one hand, you have the
‘Flow’ of the Golden State Warriors motion offense where the set screens, get
ball and player movement, and ball reversals in looking for great shots and
scoring opportunities by taking advantage of defensive breakdowns.
Flow
The Golden State Warriors
have really made a name for themselves because of their style of play and
offensive flow.
By playing what most would
call ‘team ball,’ they look to make plays for others, and much of what they do
consists of attacking off the ball. They
force you defend 3 v 3. They force you
defend specific actions away from the ball.
They force you to communicate and decide how you want to guard their
different actions.
The constant action and
constant screening that they perform puts pressure on the defense’s ability to
communicate and work together while dealing with the conditioning and
physicality of the game. They wear teams
down.
Their great scorers are
never stagnant. They seek to take
advantage of every defensive mistake by constantly looking for each other,
screening for each other, and passing to each other. When the defense has a breakdown in communication,
it leaves open scorers. Over time, your
defensive breakdowns and their ability to read the defense and take advantage of
your mistakes are what make them so successful.
Star Power
The Cleveland Cavaliers have 2 of the best 1 on 1 players in the world in LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Star Power is when you put the ball in the hands of your stars and you hope that their talents and decision making will over power your opponents.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have 2 of the best 1 on 1 players in the world in LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Star Power is when you put the ball in the hands of your stars and you hope that their talents and decision making will over power your opponents.
As Kobe states in the
video, star power when every offensive decision is made by one of the
stars. They may make a play for
themselves, make a play for somebody else, or make the play that leads to the
play for someone else. If the play that
leads to the play doesn’t end in a shot, then the ball will find its way back
to the star and the process resets to again until they get the shot that they
want.
It’s easy to manage
because the ball stays in the hands of the stars that command double teams,
thus creating opportunities for their teammates. It can be very effective if the stars make
the right reads at the right times, the teammates make timely shots, and the
stars make the right plays in the end.
This puts a lot of
pressure on the stars and the others because some of the others aren’t able to
get into rhythm without consistent ball and player movement.
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