In the fourth quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ scintillating contest against the Denver Nuggets, Steph Curry was on one of his patented heaters, a burst of flame that has left behind several victims in its fiery wake. But it seemingly had run out of fuel, when a missed layup became a missed opportunity to turn a 117-all contest into a two-point lead for the Warriors. What would happen afterward felt like the dagger — one that was sunk into Warriors’ fans proverbial hearts not once, not twice,
and not even three times.
It was, instead, the tenth time, in the form of Aaron Gordon’s 10th three-pointer on 11 attempts, a shooting spree unprecedented from someone once deemed as a non-shooting threat.
Steve Kerr had a decision to make: either take a quick two and play the long game, or go for the tie with a three. In order to accomplish the latter, the most obvious recipient of his after-timeout (ATO) set had to be Curry. Kerr had several options at hand with which to unlock Curry from beyond the arc: perhaps their “C” set (otherwise known as “Phoenix,” since it was a play with its origins taken from the Seven Seconds or Less Suns under Mike D’Antoni) would do; another option would be “Winner,” a set that originated from former Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, and one that Kerr borrowed a couple of times to mixed success.
The answer turned out to be none of the above. Even so, Kerr borrowed another set from Stevens, one that the Celtics continued to use beyond his coaching tenure:
Called “On The Run” — because the recipient of the inbound would start the play on the run — the version Kerr concocted banked on one key occurrence: that Nikola Jokić, guarding Draymond Green, would fall behind as a natural consequence of “guarding” (i.e., not actively guarding) Green.
Kerr’s calculated gamble proved not only to be correct — Jokić was drawn in by a cut by Jimmy Butler, further straying him away from Green and leaving Jamal Murray alone to defend the two-man link-up by Green and Curry:
One screen and rescreen later, Curry saw the opportunity open right before him, despite the distance separating him and the rim. But as we’ve all come to learn throughout his 17-year career, distance is a non-limiting factor — at times, a complete non-factor — for the greatest shooter of all time.
Curry did his part on the offensive end of the floor to help send the game into overtime, one that at a certain point felt like an improbability for the Warriors to win. It was now the Nuggets’ turn to attempt to break the Warriors’ hearts, in a similar fashion to how Jokić broke them two seasons ago.
But that wasn’t going to happen again on Green’s watch. Take note as he starts this possession on Murray — the rationale being that a pick-and-roll between Murray and Jokić can be easily switched. Even so, Green almost misses the window for a switch by staying on Murray a beat longer than he probably should’ve.
But in a blink of an eye — while Murray’s pocket pass was in the process of finding its way to the rolling Jokić — Green sprints his way toward Jokić‘s roll path. He makes enough of a bothersome contest to force the miss from Jokić, sending the game into overtime.
It was then a matter of execution, feel, and taking what the Nuggets defense gave Curry and the Warriors. It was a no-brainer that the Nuggets would employ all sorts of physicality and ball-denial tricks to prevent Curry from coming off of screens, let alone touching the ball.
Curry responded with his typical off-ball brilliance. When Christian Braun voraciously holds and denies him from Al Horford’s pindown by employing a “top-lock,” Curry adjusts accordingly. Horford also seems to know what to do at that moment, a testament to his natural fit within this read-and-react environment.
But arguably the key play of overtime came not from Curry, Green, or Butler, nor did it happen on offense. It was a stop engineered by none other than Jonathan Kuminga, who had his second consecutive game of positive impact. With the Nuggets heading back on offense after a stop, Curry — who was forced to pick up Murray in transition — receives a Jokić screen. Being caught up in the pick results in Curry having to switch onto the much bigger man, with Horford stepping up to take Murray, who then attempts to find Jokić in order to take advantage of the massive mismatch.
However, Kuminga comes to the rescue. Watch where he is the moment Curry switches onto Jokić — and what he directs Curry to do in order to escape a potential nightmare situation:
Kuminga promptly points toward the corner, directing Curry to take Braun in the corner, while Kuminga steps up to take Jokić. This decision to “scram” Curry out of a disadvantage situation works in the Warriors’ favor, as Kuminga is able to do enough to force Jokić into a miss — just like Green before him in regulation.
Enough correct buttons were pushed by Kerr and the coaching staff (most notably, choosing to go with a closing lineup of Curry, Butler, Kuminga, Green, and Horford) to help the Warriors come back from a huge deficit and overcome the Nuggets, who have been their tormentors for the past couple of seasons. Curry and Butler’s shotmaking, Green’s brilliance as a defender, Kuminga’s growth and increasing willingness to buy into the team’s ethos, and Horford looking like a godsend of a fit were the collective cherry on top of what was a morale-boosting win.
