Stephen Curry had Ivica Zubac, the Clippers’ 7-foot, 241-pound center, guarding him 30 feet from the basket in the fourth quarter on Friday. But Zubac had help. Clippers guard Luke Kennard was behind him “soft trapping” Curry instead of defending his man in the corner. Marcus Morris Sr. was doing the same thing, posted at the free throw line, nowhere near the player he was guarding, trying to discourage Curry from driving.
Several options were possible from this configuration. Curry could drive past Zubac, weaving around Kennard to get into the lane. Curry could pass it to Kent Bazemore across from him at the top, and Bazemore could swing it to Damion Lee in the weakside corner. Or Curry could whip a pass to Mychal Mulder in the left corner for the catch-and-shoot 3. Or, what’s common against a zone-type defense, Eric Paschall could flash to the middle, receive the pass from Curry and turn toward the basket for a three-on-two advantage.
None of…
