Steph Curry has fallen out of the MVP dialog, however he secured a minimum of one trophy for his cupboard over the weekend in Cleveland. Now, the one MVP trophy Curry wants to finish his trifecta is from the Finals.
To get there, the Golden State Warriors may want a traditional Curry conflagration. It won't get him again within the dialog for Maurice Podoloff’s statue, however the Warriors enter the ultimate stretch of their season depleted and holding a slim lead on the No. 2 seed. With Klay Thompson nonetheless getting again to full energy and Draymond Inexperienced out for a minimum of the subsequent few weeks, can Curry carry the Warriors throughout the end line (and, heck, possibly keep away from his first season capturing beneath 40% from the behind the arc whereas he’s at it)?
After dropping 50 factors Sunday evening within the All-Star Recreation — stealing the present with a record-smashing 16 3-pointers — Curry reminded reporters gathered in Cleveland the place the Warriors stand as they enter the ultimate stage of the common season.
“We’ve had quite a lot of accidents, and we haven’t been complete in a really very long time,” Curry stated. “When Klay got here again, Draymond was out the identical evening. Nonetheless ready on the three of us to take the ground once more.”
It has been 21 video games since Thompson got here again and Inexperienced departed, overlapping for under a ceremonial seven seconds. There stays no date set to anticipate all three to share the court docket collectively once more. May Curry’s magnificent exhibiting Sunday evening ignite the recent streak the Warriors want till they're complete once more?
Curry’s 34.8 minutes per sport this season are his most in eight years, he has performed in 54 of Golden State’s 59 video games, and he's on tempo to launch extra photographs than any earlier season. However on Sunday evening, Curry sat beside his All-Star MVP trophy talking with a vigor for the stretch run to come back.
“It’s all form of shaping as much as attempt to peak on the proper time,” Curry stated. “To be in that dialog once more after final two years that we’ve had, I’m fairly rejuvenated and excited to be again in that environment.”
Curry’s midseason hunch was the worst of his profession, little question, however hitting a skid isn’t out of the peculiar. It’s widespread for Curry’s shot to hit a snag main as much as the All-Star break. Simply as typically, Curry heats up after the day without work.
Can we formally put the hunch to sleep? In keeping with Curry’s considering, there was by no means one to start with — simply all a part of an extended season.
“There’s not likely a ‘previous this.’ It’s simply preserve capturing. That’s simply how I method it,” Curry stated earlier this month. “It’s not like while you’re sizzling and capturing 60% from 3, it’s by no means like that’s going to final. And everytime you dip, it’s not gonna final eternally. … by no means actually felt dangerous. It simply didn’t actually go in. There are particular tweaks and all that, but when it feels dangerous, then you definately don’t shoot.”
16 threes.
In a single sport.@StephenCurry30 went off for 50 POINTS and shattered the #NBAAllStar report for threes to raise #TeamLeBron and take house the #KiaAllStarMVP Kobe Bryant trophy! pic.twitter.com/S7ZTXatg0G— NBA (@NBA) February 21, 2022
Curry has had current sizzling video games that show his shot wasn’t damaged — three 30-point performances in his last eight video games earlier than the All-Star break: 7-of-14 from distance in a single, 8-for-13 in one other — however has additionally been tormented by inconsistent outcomes. Even over these last eight video games, beginning together with his 40-point outing at Houston, Curry’s hit charge from 3 could be a career-low: 39.8%.
Curry enters the Warriors’ last 23 video games on tempo for the worst capturing season of his profession — a yr outlined by his pursuit of the 3-point report — by a reasonably large margin, too. He has by no means shot worse than 41.1% from distance over the course of a full season and sits at 37.9% popping out of the All-Star break (sorry, Steph, the 16-for-27 on Sunday doesn’t rely).
So, what wouldn't it take to a minimum of get him over the 40% mark? Curry is taking 12.3 3-pointers per sport this season. That averages out to about 283 remaining 3-point makes an attempt over the ultimate 23 video games. He must hit them at a clip of 45% to get there at that tempo — which might additionally consequence within the second-most 3s made in any season in NBA historical past (378, falling in need of his personal report of 402).
That’s hardly a troublesome feat to think about for the best 3-point murderer the world has ever seen — he’s made 3s at that clip twice over the course of a full season. However it might take a step up from even clip that garnered him MVP chants at almost each area he visited early this season, earlier than the skid.
Curry’s greatest two All-Star showings have come the previous two years. As an eight-timer, he understands the ins and outs of All-Star weekend now, he defined, and set his sights on the MVP trophy, an honor he’d by no means taken house earlier than.
“You perceive the nuances of the sport and the way totally different guys method it. Guys get sizzling and so they placed on a present,” he stated. “As soon as I form of knew I used to be feeling it, you form of needed to trip that wave and see the way it ended up.”
Final season, Curry dropped 28 within the All-Star Recreation — modest compared to this yr however then a private greatest — then acquired red-hot down the stretch, upping his scoring common to 34.9 per sport after the break and main the Warriors to fifteen wins of their last 21 video games.
Right here’s a breakdown of Curry’s All-Star performances and the second-half numbers that adopted:
- 2020-21: 28 factors, 8-16 3pt | 34.9 ppg post-break (+5.2 ppg from pre-break)
- 2019-20: n/a (injured)
- 2018-19: 17 factors, 4-17 3pt | 24.6 ppg post-break (-4.0 from pre-break)
- 2017-18: 11 factors, 3-11 3pt | 25.5 ppg post-break (-1.1 from pre-break)
- 2016-17: 21 factors, 5-11 3pt | 26.6 ppg post-break (+1.9 from pre-break)
- 2015-16: 26 factors, 6-13 3pt | 30.6 ppg post-break (+0.8 from pre-break)
- 2014-15: 15 factors, 3-10 3pt | 24.0 ppg post-break (+0.4 from pre-break)
- 2013-14: 12 factors, 2-11 3pt | 22.9 ppg post-break (-1.7 from pre-break)
Value noting: Curry has solely been capable of profit from the added spacing Thompson supplies with out Inexperienced’s capability to search out both star guard with a go. With out Inexperienced, Curry has taken on extra of a playmaking function offensively and added to his workload defensively. His 6.8 assists per sport since Inexperienced’s harm would rank as his most in seven seasons.
Curry provided a reminder Sunday evening of what he can do when he isn’t shackled to a facilitating function on offense and tied down by defensive obligations. Nonetheless, so long as Inexperienced stays out, Curry will probably need to expend further effort on either side of the basketball.