Stephen Curry's Wizardry Sparking Warriors' Dominance and Tuesday NBA Takeways
It can be tempting, if you’re an NBA coach, to nitpick a loss to within an inch of absurdity—to dissect the dozens of different times your opponent beat you to the ball, an angle or a punch.
Then again, sometimes the answer is just this simple: Stephen Curry torched you, and you couldn't do anything about it.
Such was the case Tuesday night, as the league’s foremost marksmen poured in a season-high 40 points on 12-of-19 shooting (including a silly 8-of-11 from distance) in the Golden State Warriors 114-97 win over the Miami Heat.
Oh, throw in six rebounds and seven assists, while we’re at it.
Curry’s eight three-pointers are tied for the most of any NBA player in a single contest this season, a blistering bullet point on a season resume growing gaudier by the game. Sam Esfandiari highlighted some key stats for Curry thus far this season:
But Curry’s incendiaries amount to much more than mere fantasy fodder. Behind his silky-steady leadership, the Warriors—now 11-2 after their sixth consecutive win—have emerged as one of the league’s true elite teams.
So long as Curry remains at the reins, the label is liable to stick, believes first-year head coach Steve Kerr, per Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Kerr has plenty more to be thankful for, of course. Be it Klay Thompson’s next-level exploits, Andrew Bogut’s steady paint presence or Draymond Green’s five-tool fuel, Golden State can no longer be ignored on either end of the court.
Through Tuesday, the Warriors were just one of four teams (the Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors and Memphis Grizzlies being the other three) to register in the top 10 for both offensive and defensive efficiency, per ESPN. They boast the league’s highest true-shooting percentage (58.3 percent) and assist rate (19.0), also per ESPN. Some nights, they look like NBA 2K incarnate.
The other end may be even kinder. Over the course of their first 13 games, the Warriors are registering the league’s second-best defense (94.9 points per 100 possessions), holding their opponents to a league-low 40.8 percent from the field, per NBA.com.
For a while against the Heat, it looked as though that stinginess may have temporarily fallen by the wayside. It turns out “temporarily” may have been putting it lightly. ESPN's Ethan Strauss noted Miami scoring more in one quarter than in an entire half:
Golden State’s D might well be what drives it deep into June. But it’s by the deft right hand of Curry—wrist snapped quicker than a clap—that the team’s Finals designs might finally come true. CJ Folger shared Isiah Thomas' interesting description of Curry's shooting:
Recently, Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley took a deep dive into what makes this Golden State team so special. His conclusion: The only things standing in the way of the Warriors and their first banner in 40 years are bad luck and mistakes of their own making.
"If this team stays healthy, it has a real chance of setting the franchise record for wins. But its real measure of success won't come until the second season.
If they want to be the best Warriors team ever, they need to send another banner up into the rafters. And they know it.
"
Scorching as their start has been, the Warriors know this Western Conference won’t be doing them any favors. Even if they stay healthy, the season is bound to yield its share of potholes and pitfalls—the necessary growing pains of a first-year coach trying to tie the loose ends his predecessor couldn’t.
Between their top-heavy scoring and 29th-ranked turnover rate, according to ESPN, the Warriors have enough weaknesses to put them in some compromising corners.
Good thing, then, that their corner includes a dude custom-built—like some basketball Butch Cassidy hemmed in by chase-giving armies—to shoot his way out of anything or die trying.
Around the Association
Boogie’s Revenge
It’s been one week since Anthony Davis propelled his New Orleans Pelicans to a 106-100 win over DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings.
In that time, the Legend of the Unibrow has taken on an even more mythical form. That tends to happen when you’re in the midst of authoring arguably the finest season any 21-year-old has ever had.
But an old fogy Boogie is not, as evidenced by the burly center’s stellar performance in his team’s 99-89 revenge win in New Orleans Tuesday night. The final line: 22 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block.
Consider the counterpunch landed. Coach Mike Malone expressed his belief that Cousins is the game's "best big man," via Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee:
Davis, by contrast, was eerily quiet (also a bit under the weather), finishing with 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting to go along with nine boards and a pair of blocks.
The duo's status as studs—to say nothing of their Kentucky ties—all but guarantee a lifetime of nitpicking comparisons. And that’s fine. Just so long as we don’t forget to enjoy the real-time brilliance, however opposite the styles, these two frontcourt forces have to offer.
Backcourt Blues
On a night when the Splash Brothers combined for 64 points on 22-of-38 shooting with only five combined turnovers in an impressive Warriors road win, John Wall and Bradley Beal were doing pretty much the opposite of that.
The Washington Wizards duo committed 13 turnovers (while missing 19 of their 29 shots) en route to a 106-102 loss to Jeff Teague (28 points) and the Atlanta Hawks.
Guess that ends that debate. For the next 24 hours, at least.
Beal, who recently returned after missing the team’s first 10 games to recover from a left wrist injury, came off the bench for the third straight contest. We’re going to go out on a limb and say this won’t last long.
Wall and Beal emerged as one of the league’s best young backcourts a season ago—a terrifying confluence of speed, athleticism and smarts that put the entire league on immediate, nervous notice.
Tuesday’s dud was by no mean a harbinger of swoons to come. What it may have reinforced, though, is how delicate and tenuous a team’s backcourt chemistry can be.
Meanwhile, on a plane somewhere over Arkansas, Steph and Klay busy themselves finishing each other’s sentences.
Butler Needs a Butler
Because he’s about to get mad paid and you need something to spend money on that isn’t fancy cars and refrigerator-sized gumball machines, so what's better than a Butler?
Which is going a long, weird way to say that Jimmy Butler has officially arrived.
The Chicago Bulls shooting guard was spectacular once again Tuesday, notching 32 points (which included a whopping 20 trips to the charity stripe) and nine boards in a 114-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets. It’s the ninth time this season that Butler has crested the 20-point threshold, after hitting that mark—wait for it—nine times over the last three seasons combined.
Take it away, Tom Thibodeau, expressing his thoughts on Butler, per Matt Moore of CBSSports.com:
"Thibs on Jimmy Butler: “He’s a star.”
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) November 26, 2014"
With Derrick Rose’s return having been more soap opera than sigh of relief, Butler’s ascendance has given Bulls fans a much-needed crutch on which to lean their future-focused gaze.
Assuming that, you know, Chicago finally comes to its senses.
Everyone knew Butler boasted next-level potential on defense. But it’s the other end of the floor that’s found the former Marquette standout making much-needed hay for the suddenly ascendant Bulls offense.
Why Are You Like This!?
And so we end this Tuesday Takeaways exactly where it began: with Stephen Curry doing silly, silly things.
An inquisitive mind might ask, “How does one defend against such wizardry?”
Simple: by making him spend the rest of his NBA days wearing a blindfold and roller skates.
