The Golden State Warriors have become a dominant force in modern basketball, led by Stephen Curry. With NBA championships in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022, the team has established near unstoppable prowess at their peak.
Much of the Warriors' success traces back to head coach Steve Kerr’s arrival in 2014. Kerr introduced subtle adjustments to their offense, inspired by Pep Guardiola’s FC Barcelona football team.
"He was like, 'I just wanna make a couple of tweaks to the way that we're creating shots,'" Curry shared 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, how we're gonna keep things simple, make the defense have to make a million decisions in a possession, so that you can find the right shot."
"It took a minute to be comfortable with not calling a play and just letting the ball kind of dictate where you're supposed to be."
Steph Curry credits Steve Kerr's adaptation of Barcelona's tiki-taka style for transforming the Warriors' offense into a fluid, decision-forcing system that maximizes scoring opportunities.
Author's summary: Steve Kerr shaped the Warriors' championship success by adopting FC Barcelona’s tiki-taka philosophy, emphasizing quick ball movement and dynamic offense led by Steph Curry.