There’s no stopping Steph Curry’s optimism. Even in times of gloom, he finds a way to remain positive about both himself and his squad. Amidst a 4-game skid, the latest of which was a pretty embarrassing loss to the play-in bound Los Angeles Lakers, Steph still found something to be optimistic about: He’s getting his old rotation pattern back.

Per an excellent article this morning by The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson, Curry said post-game that the “experimentation” with his minutes was over. His rotation pattern would finally go back to him playing the full 1st and 3rd quarters, while resting for the first halves of the 2nd and 4th before coming back in to close them out. This has been Curry’s substitution pattern for years, but in the midst of tinkering to make things work, head coach Steve Kerr began to try out some new rotations that haven’t been working as well as he probably hoped.

The return to this pattern was actually an accident, as Curry was supposed to be subbed out with about three minutes left in the 1st. A lack of stoppage of play, however, kept him in until the last thirty seconds, which meant he had to rest for the first half of the 2nd quarter. While the change didn’t really stick for the rest of the game, 30 was happy about it post-game and, as mentioned earlier, led to the revelation that he should probably get back to the old pattern.

Steph’s rotation was good for a myriad of reasons. It gave him the ability to build up some rhythm in the 1st. It was the catalyst, more often than not, behind big 3rd quarter runs. It allowed him to come in and close the game in the final frame when things got dicey. The biggest part of this rotation is that it allows for him to play a consistent amount of time all in the same stretch, so he’s not getting sat when he’s starting to feel it. It’s what made Steph Curry, gave him the opportunity to heat up without cutting him off.

It was also a subject of woe for many fans and analysts, with there being noticeable momentum stoppages because Steph was getting taken out right after hitting a few big shots in a row. If you’re wondering why we haven’t seen him go nuclear in awhile, it’s because of this rotation pattern. The Warriors were winning when he was playing the 12-6-12-6 pattern earlier in the season, but the decision to experiment with that built up a lot of inconsistencies.

Steph sounds pretty happy about it, too. And we know when he plays like he’s having fun, it’s gonna be a good show.

Because Steph is so central to the team’s system, his rotation pattern also affects his teammates a great degree. Last night, the young guns came out swinging to start the 2nd quarter, with Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, and a red-hot Jordan Poole combining for 30 points in 10 minutes within that segment of the game. It allows the Warriors the flexibility to give teams different looks to start the 2nd and 4th without interrupting Steph’s rhythm. The bench has played very well whenever these minutes are a part of the game plan, and will probably continue to play well as a result of the return to form.

Despite last night’s loss being one of the toughest pills to swallow this season, the Warriors had stretches where they looked really good. The injuries to key defensive guys in Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala (as well as Gary Payton II, who sat in last night’s contest) have certainly been a major hit to the Warriors’ defense, especially with Klay Thompson still getting his legs back under him and Andrew Wiggins losing consistency on both ends, but last night, this team had moments where they were on the verge of figuring it out. With Steph regaining his ability to stay in for consistent stretches, and therefore giving him back his power to go supernova at will, we could be looking at a similar phenomenon to last year’s April, when things just started to click.

The next look we’ll get at Curry’s return to form will be at home on Tuesday, as he will not travel (alongside Klay and Wiggs) to Denver for the rescheduled game that had to be moved from earlier in the season due to Denver’s inability to field a playable roster, caused by a significant amount of their players entering health and safety protocols. The Warriors will get a chance to run their younger guys against the Nuggets on the first half of a back-to-back tomorrow.

(Photo credit: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)