It Can’t Just Be About Stephen Curry
We’ve seen the best of times — the behind the head passes, the All-Star bids, the 37-point quarter.
We’ve watched the Golden State Warriors saunter to the best record in the NBA through a combination of staunch defense, bench scoring, and three-point brilliance.
And perhaps now we may be seeing the beginning of the worst of times. The Warriors’ loss against the Jazz, a closer-than-it-really-was 10-point defeat, was characterized by missed jumpers, inconsistent defense, and, most alarmingly, stagnant offense.
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Stephen Curry led the team with 31 points on 10-22 shooting, four more points than the rest of the starters combined. When they weren’t bricking jumpers, (the other four starters combined to shoot 11-25), they were standing around, waiting for Curry to make something happen.
And despite his brilliance, especially from deep, a contested three-pointer from Curry is often a cop-out, a bailout when the team can’t get a good offensive possession. Ironically, and confusingly, his deep, contested threes occur in largely two situations: first, when he is scalding hot, a heat check, ready to drill his 10th three-pointer in the game, or, as previously mentioned, when no one else can get a good look.
And last night against the Jazz, we saw a lot of the second kind of contested threes. Curry took more than double the amount of shots as the next Warrior — Klay Thompson with 10 field goal attempts. And perhaps it was even for the best: when the other Warriors shot, they were a middle-school-ballhog-esque 3-of-16 from three.
The Warriors have been so successful this year because of their supporting cast: Thompson has stepped to become one of the NBA’s premier guards, Draymond Green is often the first name mentioned in the Defensive Player of the Year discussion, and Mo Speights has emerged as a legitimate Sixth Man of the Year candidate. For the Warriors to make a deep playoff run this year, they’ll have to continue to be carried by the supporting cast. Last night’s “one man show” was ugly and ineffective, a warning of what not to do in the future.
We saw the Thunder’s floundering without Kevin Durant. We saw the Cavs struggle to do anything without LeBron James. We saw the Trail Blazers panic when they thought LaMarcus Aldridge was done for the season.
But the Warriors can’t be like that. For great basketball, like the team-oriented clinic put on by the Spurs last year, transcends any notion of MVP candidates or starting All-Stars, it is a machine that is greater than the sum of its parts — capitalizing on the strengths of its players without depending on them.
It can’t just be about Curry. We’re too good for that.
Next: Game Rewind: Golden State Warriors Disappointing in Loss to Utah Jazz