Steph Curry Isn't Making Excuses for Recent Play
If there’s one thing you love to see from your superstar in the NBA, it’s accountability. Often times, players can get away with making excuses for why their team didn’t get far enough in the playoffs, or why they’re struggling at a certain point in the season. Team leadership has a trickle-down effect whether people want to acknowledge it or not, and that kind of attitude makes it easier for teams who lead as such to fail.
But in the words of Steph Curry: “Who gives a damn about excuses?”
It’s been well-discussed over the past few days, but Curry told the media after the Warriors beat the Jazz over the weekend that he wasn’t about to start throwing out reasons for why he wasn’t hitting his normal shots.
“I don’t think anyone wants to hear about why you make shots or you miss shots… so I gotta start making some shots” Curry told The Atheltic’s Anthony Slater in the postgame presser. Full sound bite can be found here:
This is just kinda what winners do. When you’ve been at the top of the mountain for so long, you lose the instinct to make excuses for why you’re not in the same spot as you used to be. Curry, who’s struggled through injury throughout his career including ankle issues before his prime, a sprained knee during the 2016 Finals, a broken hand that kept him out of the 19-20 season, and a fractured tailbone which had him miss time late last season. When Steph is fully healthy, he’s been dominant… except for this recent stretch.
While the issue has been going on a lot longer than just these past few games, Steph has been started to show more and more semblance of his former self. He’s still doing a ton for the Warriors on the court, but something is just off with his shot. On Slater’s podcast “All-82”, he pointed out some interesting things he saw in pregame shoot-around before the Warriors played the Jazz.
“I was out there pre-game, and he was really missing it. He was missing a ton in pregame, kept looking at his hand, fidgeting with it, he even stopped his routine and had Bruce Fraser come over… To me, even the way he kinda danced around my question [postgame], I think it’s clear he’s trying to fix something, he’s just not detailing to us what it is” Slater said on this excerpt from the pod.
If there is a larger issue, it’s best to let Curry figure it out himself. Nobody is the shooting expert he is, and if there is something wrong, then Steph should absolutely take the time to fix it. Despite his poor shooting, he’s still getting to the rim and maintaining status as an elite playmaker. The Warriors are better with him on the floor, whether he’s shooting like he usually is or not.
It should also be noted that Curry is steadily on the uptick of improving despite his stinker last game. Over his last 10 games, Curry is shooting about 27% from three. But if you reduce that to his last 5, it’s on the rise at 31%. Still not near what we expect from the greatest shooter ever, but it’s progress, and if that hand injury is bugging him as bad as it could be, then it’s very good progress.
The Warriors play the Mavericks tonight, and will be without Andrew Wiggins in addition to Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. The last game against the Mavericks was probably one of the worst in the slump so far, and this time around the Mavs are looking like a top-5 defense, along with having superstar Luka Doncic suiting up tonight. It would be a convenient come-back game for Steph, as the Mavs could be in the fight for home-court advantage if the Jazz continue to struggle as they have and may represent a playoff matchup.
(Photo credit: Bart Young / Getty Images)