The Golden State Warriors became a modern NBA dynasty under Stephen Curry’s leadership, winning championships in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022. Their dominance is often linked to head coach Steve Kerr, who brought new ideas when he took over in 2014.
Steve Kerr encouraged the Warriors to adopt an offensive approach inspired by Pep Guardiola's FC Barcelona, focusing on constant motion, creative ball sharing, and quick decision-making. This strategy aimed to generate open shots and test opposing defenses through dynamic movement rather than set plays.
“He was like, ‘I just wanna make a couple of tweaks to the way that we’re creating shots,’” Curry said on the Mind the Game podcast with LeBron James and Steve Nash.
“Once we got in training camp, he showed a clip of Barcelona tiki-taka, and he was talking about that as a philosophy of how we’re gonna create shots, make the defense have to make a million decisions in a possession, so that you can find the right shot,” he added.
This philosophy helped shape the Warriors’ fluid offensive identity, leading to exceptional success and redefining how modern teams approach ball movement and spacing in basketball.
Author’s summary: Steve Kerr’s tiki-taka-inspired strategy reshaped the Warriors into a fast-moving, unpredictable team that dominated the NBA under Stephen Curry’s leadership.