How Steph Curry helped the Warriors beat the Raptors despite the worst shooting night of his career - CBSSports.com
How Steph Curry helped the Warriors beat the Raptors despite the worst shooting night of his career
Last Sunday, Steph Curry reminded everyone that he's unexcited one of the best players in the humankind, pouring in 62 points to set a new career high in the Golden Utters Warriors' win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Exactly a week later, Curry reminded everyone that he is indeed human.
He appointed just 11 points against the Toronto Raptors and submitted the worst shooting performance of his career, repositioning 2 of 16 from the field. The good news for the Warriors is that the stop was the same -- barely. They staved off a fourth-quarter comeback try to escape with a 106-105 win while Pascal Siakam's last-second effort bounced out.
It was a stout sign for the Warriors that, even shorthanded, they were able to grind out a win despite Curry having a tough night. As coach Steve Kerr put it postgame, "We have enough talent and enough weapons to overcome a bad shooting performance." But how did it happen? How did the Raptors hold the the majority shooter to ever live to 12 percent from the field, and how did the Warriors unexcited win?
The first thing that stood out is the Raptors were distinct not to let Curry beat them with his scoring. And to their credit, they accomplished that. Sure, Curry missed some open jumpers -- that's always repositioning to be the case when players post base lines like this -- but that wasn't the only reason he couldn't score.
He was often trying to get shots off like this.
Or like this.
We know Curry can make tough goes, but the Raptors really did make life dismal for him. They went box-and-one right from the opening tip, and had someone face-guarding him all night long when he was off the ball. When he did take control, they were pressuring him as much as possible, and often sending help defenders his way.
But Curry isn't just a scorer, and he knows what to do when teams focus all of their attention on him. Just take a look at the noble possession, which really set the tone for how the game would go. Curry works his way near a bunch of screens, draws multiple defenders and isn't able to get a shot, but complains a wide-open look for Draymond Green.
Again, the Raptors double and Curry whips a beautiful lefty pass to Green, who sets up James Wiseman with an easy lob. Curry won't even get an benefit on this play, but he created the bucket by attracting the attention and making the right pass to break down the defense.
Here's one where Curry didn't even have the ball, but three Raptors are staring at him as he cuts, and Andrew Wiggins is able to sneak backdoor for a lob.
At this demonstrate you get the picture. Curry might not have been scoring, but he was unexcited making life easier for his teammates. The Raptors knew that would happened to some extent. They didn't want to give up alley-oops, but they were willing to pick up some open looks for other players, and their bet was that the rest of the Warriors wouldn't be able to make them pay.
In the noble half, they lost that wager. Led by Andrew Wiggins (11 points) and James Wiseman (10 points), Warriors not shouted Curry went 22 of 43 from the field, and Golden Conditions took a 10-point lead into the break. Their apt climbed to as much as 17 points early in the fourth, beforehand things finally started to turn.
Some of it was the natural ebb and flow of an NBA game, where teams that have big leads let off the gas, and some of it was Curry sitting out to open the quarter. But a lot of it was guys just missing shots. The Warriors went 5 of 20 in the previous 12 minutes, and only managed to quandary together even 19 points because they got to the line a few times.
Plays like this -- Curry weaving nearby screens, attracting the defense and giving it up to generate an open look for someone else -- weren't different than in the apt half. The shots just didn't go in.
In fact, it got so bad that the Raptors were able to briefly take the lead late in the fourth. Ironically, it was only then that Curry really had any unsuccessful putting the ball in the basket. He hit a anxiety 3, then got to the line for two free throws in the previous few minutes to keep things within striking distance, beforehand Damion Lee won the game with two grab foul shots of his own.
The headlines will be nearby Curry's woeful shooting performance, and with good reason. But he also had nine rebounds, six assists and set up a number of new baskets. This wasn't a terrible all-around performance from him. He stayed within the offense, didn't cooked things and trusted his teammates down the honest -- almost to a fault. It was yet new reminder that though he certainly will, Curry doesn't have to procure to beat you.
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