Klay Thompson has revealed that Coach Steve Kerr took inspiration from FC Barcelona’s Tiki-Taka style of play which has helped the team to build on its successes.
Under head coach Steve Kerr, the Warriors have been an unstoppable force, winning four titles in the previous eight years.
According to shooting guard Klay Thompson, the Golden State Warriors’ remarkable ball movement in recent seasons has been influenced by Barcelona’s “tiki-taka” style of football from the Spanish LaLiga.
The Warriors have been a powerful force under head coach Steve Kerr, winning four titles in the last eight years. On Tuesday, they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 123-109 to begin their NBA title defense.
The two strategies they adopted from Barcelona, according to Thompson, are having a player open and keeping the ball moving.
“I give credit to Steve, he came in and he had a vision, just to keep that thing hot. He gave us the perfect example of FC Barcelona, they call it tiki-taka,” After the Lakers victory, Thompson spoke to TNT.
“It’s just kick it to the open man and with us give it to the open man, keep it moving, and it just plays to me and Steph’s (Curry) strengths so much … it’s perfect.”
A sequence of quick, accurate passes are used in tiki-taka, which Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona squad popularized, to keep the ball moving without losing possession.
Barcelona saw great success with this method of play as Guardiola led them to 14 trophies between 2008 and 2012.
Curry also praised Barcelona and Guardiola at the time, claiming that players like their then-talisman Lionel Messi served as an example since “their style of play is very comparable to ours” and the things they do in every game.
Recently, many people have talked about Kerr’s coaching philosophies, including Thompson. Draymond Green discussed his initial impression of how Kerr intended the Warriors to play when the 57-year-old took over the position in 2014 during an appearance on a podcast in September.
“[Kerr] came in and he had a vision just to keep that thing hot,” Thompson said. “I mean, he gave us a perfect example. In FC Barcelona, they call it tiki-taka. It’s just kicking the open man and with us, hit the open man. Keep moving. And it just plays to me and Steph’s strength so much.”
“When Steve Kerr took over the job, I remember the first training camp, he’s like, ball movement, cut, stop standing and waiting for the ball,” Green said. “I’ll catch the ball at the top of the key, Steph on the wing. And he’s like, Steph, cut and it’s like, ‘No, dude, I’m supposed to pass the ball to Steph right here.’ And he said, ‘Pass the ball and move without the ball; the ball will find the hands of the people that are supposed to get the shots.’
“We all thought he was out of his mind. And then as we started to do it, then you figure it out and you like, ‘Yo, this is actually pretty incredible.’ Like, it’s ball moving, ball moving, ball moving. Screen roll, it’s ball moving, ball moving ball moving. There goes the mismatch, but nobody’s really standing. And that’s kind of where all this flow offense and all this stuff came.”
Klay Thompson
Klay Alexander Thompson, a professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association’s Golden State Warriors, was born on February 8, 1990. He is one of the most famous faces in the NBA.
He won four NBA championships with the Warriors. He was selected to five NBA All-Star games, twice made the All-NBA Third Team, and once made the NBA All-Defensive Second Team.
Additionally, he has won gold medals with the American national team with their Olympic and World Cup squads from 2016 and 2014, respectively.
Mychal Thompson, a former NBA player, is the father of Thompson. He spent three seasons as a Washington State Cougars basketball player, when he was twice named to the Pac-10’s first team all-conference (now Pac-12).
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are a San Francisco-based American basketball team. The Warriors play in the Western Conference Pacific Division of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The Warriors were established in Philadelphia in 1946, moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1962, and adopted the name of the city before changing it to Golden State in 1971.
The Chase Center is where the club has its home games.
The Warriors, headed by the Hall of Fame trio of Paul Arizin, Tom Gola, and Neil Johnston, won the Basketball Association of America’s (BAA) first title in 1947 and again in 1956.
Four NBA titles have been won by the Warriors in the last eight years thanks to Kerr’s approach, and they aren’t slowing down.
Golden State is attempting to win back-to-back Larry O’Brien championship trophies, and with Kerr’s playmaking approach, they have a very good chance of doing so this year.
What is Barcelona’s Tiki-Taka?
A sequence of quick, precise passes are used in tiki-taka, which was made popular by Pep Guardiola’s Barca team, to keep the ball moving without losing possession.
Barcelona has great success with this method of play as Guardiola led the team to 14 trophies between 2008 and 2012.
In Spain’s national sport of football, tiki-taka, sometimes known as tiqui-taca, is a style of play characterized by quick passing and movement, pushing the ball through multiple channels, and preserving possession.
Since 2006, Luis Aragonés and Vicente del Bosque, the managers of the Spain national team, have been largely linked with the style.
