NBA star Klay Thompson has said that Barcelona’s tiki-taka is the inspiration behind the Golden State Warriors’ tactics at the start of the new NBA season.
The Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 123 to 109 in the opening game of the new NBA season.
Speaking after the match, Golden State Warriors player Thompson revealed that head coach Steve Kerr used Barcelona as a role model for the team in terms of their movement on the basketball court.
Thompson said this while reacting to NBA legend Charles Barkley praises of the Warriors’ movement while acting as a pundit TNT.
The NBA star said, “I give Steve credit [Kerr], he walked in and had a vision just to keep the thing hot. He gave us the perfect example of FC Barcelona, they call it Tiki-Taka. It’s easy to step up to the open man and give the open man with us, keep it moving and it just plays to me and Steph [Curry] strengths so much.”
Tiki-Taka is one of the most successful tactics in football and although former Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola never introduced it, it is said he popularized it with the imperious Barcelona side of 2009.
The tactics involves a series of short, sharp passes that keep the ball constantly moving. It was an evolution of Johan Cruyff’s total football tactics and also built on Frank Rijkaard’s and Louis van Gaal’s desire to play with short passes.