Stephen Curry, Andrew Bogut use rapport to slice up defenses

Andrew Bogut whips a sweet, long, left-handed bounce pass to Curry, who floats home a layup. Curry stands 6-foot-3, grew up outside Charlotte, N.C., wades in acclaim and routinely makes shots far beyond the three-point line. Bogut stands 7 feet tall, grew up in Melbourne, Australia, works in the shadows of his decorated teammates and seldom attempts a shot beyond three feet. Three times in a victory at Indiana on Dec. 8, Curry lofts alley-oop passes toward the rim. All three times, Bogut reaches up with his giant paw and slams the ball home. The trade also created a spot in the starting lineup for Klay Thompson. Curry comes off the screen and Bogut, in one of his favorite moves, cleverly drops a pass between his legs. Another factor in this equation is Kerr’s free-flowing offense, which stresses not only ball movement but also player movement. Curry is exceptional at moving without the ball — and, yep, he can shoot a little bit from three-point range — so Kerr’s system helped propel him to back-to-back MVP awards. Kerr traveled to Australia after landing the Warriors’ job in May 2014, to spend time with Bogut and explain his role in the offense. Kerr and his staff aren’t afraid to move their big men — namely, Bogut and Green — away from the basket and ask them to make decisions with the ball. Curry passes to Bogut and quickly cuts from the free-throw line to the basket March 7 against Orlando. Bogut immediately passes the ball back to Curry for a slick give-and-go layup. Television analyst Jim Barnett calls them the “perfect duo” for plays like this. In the summer of 2014, before his first training camp with the Warriors, Kerr took his assistant coaches on a retreat to Napa. Lead assistant Luke Walton recalled seeing Curry’s lob passes to Bogut on those videos. Bogut waits patiently near the free-throw line March 23 against the Clippers. Bogut hits him with a quick pass and Curry makes a reverse layup. “I think it’s demoralizing for the other team if they’re guarding us well and we get a wide-open dunk after Steph and Klay have hit three or four threes,” Bogut said. Curry gets hung up in the air and makes a blind, hopeful pass to a vacant spot near the basket.