2-time MVP now is shooting even better Guard making smart choices despite being pushed around
After spending the 2015-16 season engineering ways to quell Stephen Curry, only to watch him become the first unanimous MVP in NBA history, many of the Warriors’ opponents drew the same conclusion: If they couldn’t stop Curry, they would try to make life as difficult for him as possible.
For the past season and a half, he has endured nearconstant contact — holding, grabbing, nudging, even downright hitting — whenever on the floor. None of it has worked. Less than three weeks shy of the All-Star break, the best shooter in NBA history is enjoying the most efficient shooting season of his career.
Entering Tuesday night’s game in Utah, Curry’s true shooting percentage — a stat that accounts for the point totals of two-pointers, threepointers and free throws — is a league-high 68. That is on pace to break his personal record of 66.9 set in 2015-16, which stands as the best mark ever by someone who finished the season averaging at least 20 points per game.
Curry leads the NBA in three-pointers per game, ranks third in scoring, seventh in free-throw percentage and 10th in three-point percentage. A deeper review of the numbers, however, reveals a key — albeit, nuanced — shift in his approach: Long content to hang around the perimeter and drain deep three-pointers, Curry is increasingly willing to take what the defense provides.
“His maturity level as a player has gotten better,” said Golden State player-development coach Bruce Fraser, who has worked closely with Curry on his shot the past 3½ seasons. “He’s a little more patient now. He’s more calculating with how he attacks things.”
Two seasons ago, when Curry delivered what was then considered the best-shooting season in NBA history, he was bullheaded in testing the limits
of his range.
Per ESPN, he shot 21-for-45 from at least 30 feet from the basket. His improvisational heat checks — pull-up threepoint tries in transition, 37footers with a defender cloaking him, off-kilter fade-away jumpers — fell at an alarmingly high rate, but they weren’t necessarily the best shots available. It was common for Curry to eschew wide-open driving lanes to launch heaves near half-court.
In ignoring conventional wisdom about shot selection, he forced opponents to do something that seemed silly only a couple of years earlier: Teams suddenly had to start guarding Curry as soon as he crossed midcourt. But by devoting so much attention to Curry 30-plus feet from the rim, they freed up gobs of space for Curry and his teammates inside the arc.
During video review last season, head coach Steve Kerr often paused clips of Curry along the perimeter to show him how many options were available other than the contested three-point try. Seldom does Curry launch deep heaves these days. He is more apt to survey the defense, hoist the open midrange jumper or attack the rim.
His 59.1-percent clip on two-pointers would be a career best if it holds. Curry also is attempting a career-high 6.6 free throws per game, two more than he averaged last season. That is a major development, given that he is shooting 90.9 percent from the foul line.
“Physically, mentally, emotionally, he’s the smartest he’s ever been in terms of his knowledge of opponents and the league,” Kerr said. “He’s now seen every possible coverage over the last few years. People are throwing it at him. He’s got the presence of mind that comes with being a multichampion and MVP. So, in some ways, he’s playing with house money.”
Curry is such an efficient shooter that he almost never can take a bad shot. With a defender within 2 feet of him this season, he is shooting 59.7 percent from the field. Perhaps his biggest improvement in the past two years, however, is an increased awareness of what plays need to be made.
In Saturday night’s 109-105 win over Boston, Curry scored a season-high 49 points on 16-for-24 shooting, including 8-for-13 from three-point range. Thirteen of those points came with the game hanging in the balance over the final 1:45.
It was a remarkably workmanlike performance from a player known for dazzling dribbling displays and did-he-just-do-that jumpers. Much of the night, he worked off high screens to find open shots.
“Nothing special, just shooting the ball,” Curry said after the game. “I mean, I don’t ever overthink that. Just try to get to your spots, take shots that you think you can make and have confidence in shooting, so if I was in here shooting 10 percent the last five games, I’d say the same thing. I really have the same mentality no matter what’s going on.”
As Curry gains traction in the MVP discussion, many of his teammates are left to wonder why he doesn’t get to the foul line even more. Rarely does the holding, grabbing, nudging and hitting he deals with each night result in free throws.
Curry, for his part, prefers not to complain.
“He’ll never say anything about it,” center David West said.