Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr Dismisses 'Box-and-1' With Savage Comments
By Sean Facey
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr views the "box-and-one" defense as nothing more than a novelty.
Kerr dismissed the defensive scheme employed by the Raptors late in the fourth quarter of Game 2 with some savage comments on Tuesday.
Steve Kerr asked about the box-and-1: "In ninth grade, a team played that against me. Very proud to announce that." Kerr called it effective, said "it changed the rhythm," but..."It's typically not something you can rely on for (large) stretches of the game."
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) June 4, 2019
Kerr clearly isn't worried about the Raptors' defensive choice. If anything, it's a testament to just how good Steph Curry is.
some people said the Finals were too predictable and it's 1-1 and we saw a box and one for 5 minutes in the 4th quarter. nobody had that prediction.
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) June 3, 2019
The only reason the Raptors were even able to employ the box-and-one in Game 2 was the lack of star power on the court for Golden State, especially after Klay Thompson left the game with a hamstring issue. That allowed Toronto to swarm the only major threat in Curry.
It was a stroke of genius by Nick Nurse to pull that rabbit out of the hat down the stretch, but if he's going to dethrone the Warriors, he's going to need more than just high school throwbacks to get the job done.