Defining and Visualizing Cuts
As stated earlier, cuts, unlike our first two play types, are an off-ball movement. There are quite a few different kinds, but the Warriors tend to use three in particular. For the record, the numbers later on encompass all cut plays; this is just to put a visual to them.
Backdoor Cuts
The first type of cut Golden State runs often is probably the most common; the backdoor cut. This means that an off-ball player breaks towards the hoop from behind, creating space through the slow reaction time of the defender being blindsided. We saw this pretty often with Harrison Barnes last year, breaking along the baseline for a bounce pass from either Stephen Curry or Andrew Bogut. Those looked a lot like this:
You might notice that a common thread is that the defender seems to get caught ball-watching. That’s the key component of a backdoor cut; the defender isn’t looking. The slow reaction creates the space, leading to an open shot.
Front Cuts
Another type of cut play that the Warriors run pretty often is a front cut. They can look similar to backdoor cuts, with the difference being where the attention of the defender is placed. Where backdoor cuts take advantage of getting behind the defender’s field of vision to create space, front cuts do it by getting out in front of the defender. More or less, that just means a burst of speed towards the hoop where a lead pass comes to the offensive player who gets ahead of (in front of) their man.
Unlike backdoor cuts, front cuts tend to come from a pretty predictable area of the court. They’re mostly run from the wings or top of the key, often in give and go situations. Look at this example:
Bogut has the ball, and Curry makes a run at the rim with his man watching. The space that he uses to sink the layup comes as a result of a well-timed break where he just beats Jason Terry to the paint. He jogs lightly then catches Terry off-guard. It’s like hitting the nitrous in a racing game when you’re tied at the front; it pushes you in front, so while the other car might be able to maintain a similar top speed, a gap is created between the two.
V-Cuts
Finally, we look at v-cuts. The Warriors love using these to free up the Splash Brothers for quick threes or pump-fakes. The v-cut is simply designed to create space on the perimeter, where the player typically catches the ball. It requires slow or quick movement towards the inside, often into the body of the defender. Once the defender is ‘pushed’ a few feet in, the offensive player plants their inside foot and breaks hard back towards the perimeter, hopefully receiving the pass with an open look at the hoop and the defender scrambling to get a hand up. Look at this example with Klay Thompson:
Thompson walks Anthony Morrow nearly to the paint, before faking a screen and breaking hard back outside. By the time Morrow gets close enough to interrupt his line of sight to the basket, it’s too late; the shot is in the air. This particular cut is especially devastating with a team like the Warriors, since it caters to elite shooters with a fast release.
Now that we’ve taken a closer look at cuts, let’s jump right into how the Warriors did last year.
Next: Breaking Down the Warriors' Cut Play in 2015-16