Steph Curry – who had a one-minute suspension against the Washington Wizards and came off the bench in the second half after the game began – was brought back in place of Trayce Jackson-Davis at 7:16 of the third quarter. Therefore, Draymond Green moved to the center position, which allowed the Warriors to speed up their game while allowing more switchability on defense.

Curry had just returned from two ankle injuries suffered against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors went 3-0 without him, an encouraging demonstration of their roster depth. But despite the success, the Golden State Warriors needed Curry back because he is their only source of consistent shot creation and remains the linchpin of their offensive attack. Without him, they can’t do much – and it’s only a matter of time before they encounter an obstacle that only he can overcome.

When Curry returned to the court in the third quarter, the Warriors didn’t waste much time executing a basic move for him: a classic Curry-Green high pick-and-roll that had two defenders holding on to Curry and the ball his way found Green on the short throw, and Green finds Jonathan Kuminga on the lob in a classic 4-on-3 situation that the Warriors have seen countless times before:

Upon closer inspection, the Warriors realized that they were placing appropriate personnel in the right positions to make the operation work perfectly. The spacing was made possible by the Wizards defending both Buddy Hield and Kuminga against them:

The subtle positioning of Hield and Kuminga gives Green space to punish the aggressive coverage of the ball, turning the action into a virtual 2-on-1 game where Kuminga can take off for the dunk while a runway opens up for him – the Curry Effect, the ultimate green-as-a-connector possession and the right support pieces to give the offense plenty of juice.

Not long after, Curry and Green team up on defense and show why the Warriors’ defense has been nearly impossible to penetrate so far this season. The absolute refusal to bend at the point of attack, the aggressive blitzing/catching near the sideline, and the overall effort and energy all demonstrated by the seasoned veterans and most senior members of the team – setting an excellent example throughout the squad .

Followed by a classic Curry three-pointer in transition where a weakened Wizards defense was not remotely willing to mark him:

Curry’s value to the offense is always high, even if he isn’t always surrounded by the best spacing players. What matters is that said personnel know how to exploit the space created by Curry on the ball, just as Kuminga was able to do on the Curry-Green pick-and-roll. Gary Payton II is no exception when it comes to strolling outdoors when all eyes are on Curry:

Jordan Poole – guarding Payton – sees Curry deviating from Green on the handoff and has to step up to prevent a possible turn to Curry’s right. He essentially switches to Curry (a “next” switch in tactical parlance), leaving Payton all alone and making his way to the rim for the reverse dunk with plenty of room for the 45. Note again that the low man received no help from the weak side due to Hield’s presence:

In this young season, having Curry and Hield on the court together to generate instant offense is an easy button to push for the Warriors. According to PBP Stats, the Warriors scored a whopping 144.6 points per 100 possessions in the 34 minutes Curry and Hield were on the court together – as opposed to 112.8 in Curry’s 45 minutes without Hield and 106.9 in Hield’s 118 minutes without Curry.

Although Hield does an admirable impression of Curry in actions that would normally feature the superstar, there’s still nothing like Curry coming off one or more screens, stirring up chaos and fear, and creating one of two scenarios:

1. He opens for a look
2. He creates open looks for his teammates

If all else fails, Curry may be the only consistent source of homegrown recordings. When the Warriors spam classic low-post split action for him, the screen navigation rules force the Wizards to move across the screen and stay on Curry’s hip while blocking and pursuing him. But Curry’s ability to create shots makes something out of what seemingly was nothing:

But across the board, it was easier for everyone when Curry and Hield were on the floor together. After a timeout, Kerr comes up with a variation on a new move the Warriors have incorporated into their offense (courtesy of Terry Stotts). More details can be found here – but suffice it to say that the “one chest” action (based on the blocker-mover offense), which typically involves a flare screen and a pindown screen at the same time, turns into a completely different action passes over. As expected, both Curry and Hield are the recipients of the flare and pindown screens, respectively.

However, instead of Hield getting out of a pindown during a typical “one chest” possession like the following:

Instead, he stays in the paint and turns to set a backscreen – a key maneuver for the “stack” or “spain” pick-and-roll that creates a clear lane for Kyle Anderson to run to Rand can stroll to make a dunk:

(It’s also kind of funny to see Curry take a defender with him on the flare – turning the possession into a 4v4.)

Curry only saw the floor for 24 minutes against the Wizards, but made the most of those minutes: 24 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists on 47/44/100 shooting splits and 68% true shooting. While he was on a minutes restriction to recover from his ankle injury, Kerr stated that Curry was ready to return to his regular minutes schedule in time for the Warriors’ three-game clash against the NBA’s best: the Boston Celtics (7-1). on Wednesday, the Cleveland Cavaliers (8-0) on Friday and the Oklahoma City Thunder (7-0) on Sunday.