What Stephen Curry had in mind was a diversion in Game 5’s waning moments. When he got the inbounds pass, the Warriors down by two, 6.7 seconds remaining, two Rockets were trained on him. James Harden was the primary defender after Eric Gordon called for the switch, but two steps behind Harden was Clint Capela, who shadowed Curry after turning his assignment, Draymond Green, over to Gordon. So Curry set up the misdirection.



He passed up the court to Draymond, who was running down the left side. Kevin Durant was on the other sideline near half-court, playing decoy, being face-guarded by Trevor Ariza. Quinn Cook, the inbounder, was the trail and wasn’t in the play. Green was already past the two players defending Curry, so that left only Gordon to beat. And with Klay Thompson in the left corner, drawing the attention of PJ Tucker, Green had some room if he got past Gordon.



But Curry’s plan wasn’t to start a fast break led by Green. It was to...