Stephen Curry has been great, but in Game 4, for the Golden State Warriors to win, he must take his game to yet another level.
Single-handedly carry the Golden State Warriors in Game 3, Stephen Curry took it to the next level in terms of productivity.
He can still, however, take it to a new level in terms of efficiency. Curry, not shooting poorly, scored 47 points on 31 shots. He did take 14 free throws though, making 13. Overall, Curry was 14-for-31 from the field, shooting 45% from the field.
That’s excellent.
There’s no downplaying at 45% from the field and 43% from deep on 14 attempts is poor play. He did what he had to do to get his team within striking range in the fourth quarter. But, when the opponent is nearing 50%, you must connect on every open shot.
Curry, surprisingly, had a handful of open looks in Game 3. He missed on what seemed to be the most wide-open threes while making some of the most difficult shots with ease. That said, this of his line and this game if he made every open shot he was alotted.
Curry’s shown to be a human cheat code. He can pull from 35 feet and knock it down. But, somehow in Game 3, the two-time MVP was just 1-for-3 on shots that were wide open, two of which came from behind the arc.
Drilling those shots, which would’ve been timely buckets, could’ve changed the whole momentum of the game. You can’t blame Curry for what he couldn’t do though. It’s almost impossible to have made even a few more shots.
As the only capable scoring option and the league’s only unanimous MVP, you have to hold yourself to the highest standard. He’s clearly the most gifted offensive player in this series, and the Warriors with the absence of Thompson still needed more from him.
He put up 31 shots. He can’t give them much more in terms of production. However, he could put in a few more shots from the field and change the tide just a bit more. He put the team on his back, and ideally, he’ll get more from six-time All-Star DeMarcus Cousins.
However, if they lose, it’s on him, and he needed to do more. He needed to be a bit more efficient when it counted, pouring in 22 in the second and 25 in the first.