Stephen Curry has found his MVP form, and that should scare the rest of the NBA
In the immediate aftermath of Kevin Durant spraining the MCL in his left knee on Feb. 28, the Golden State Warriors lost four of six games.
You might have heard about it.
Without Durant, the Warriors' offense became constipated — nothing like the trendsetting pace-and-space unit we had come to expect over the last three years — and Steve Kerr's rotations seemed haphazard at best.
The team lacked verve. It lacked confidence. It lacked an identity.
And Stephen Curry? The league's two-time reigning MVP didn't look like the player that shattered the NBA record book the year before — he looked more like the hampered version of No. 30 that showed up to the 2016 NBA Finals.
At the time when it was most needed, Curry's best was nowhere to be found, and the tweets — oh, the tweets pointing that out — flowed like water from a mountain stream. The Baby Faced Assassin's stretch of 16-of-56 shooting from beyond the arc after Durant's injury was a clear sign that his career, and the Warriors, were done.
But then a funny thing happened — something that no one could have possibly seen coming (I mean, he was missing shots!) ... Curry's 3-point shooting stroke returned. And sure enough, his game — and the Warriors — came back to life.
Over the last eight contests, Curry is averaging 25 points, eight assists, four rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game. He boasts a usage percentage of 30 and a true shooting percentage of 65.4.
He hasn't necessarily been "on fire," but those are numbers that are awfully similar to his 2014-15 MVP campaign.
Oh, and the Warriors have won eight straight games going into Wednesday night's matchup with the San Antonio Spurs.
There are plenty of reasons behind the Warriors' surge without Durant in the lineup (the All-Star forward will be re-evaluated on Thursday and the team is optimistic that he will return before the end of the regular season). Draymond Green's defense, Andre Iguodala's versatility, Klay Thompson's always incredible two-way play are all key factors — but Curry finding his groove is the most welcome development.
Curry's 2015-16 season was perhaps the greatest offensive season in NBA history. It re-calibrated how we view the game's greatest 3-point shooter and made it a near certainty that his 2016-17 season would be considered a disappointment. There was no way he could match that.
And if that wasn't enough, not one, but two players are putting up historic seasons of their own this year.
Russell Westbrook is poised to become the second player in modern NBA history to average a triple-double, and James Harden's reinvention as a dribble-drive point guard has created obscene offensive production — he might be having the single greatest offensive season in NBA history:
https://twitter.com/KellyScaletta/status/845639018335424512
Oh, and LeBron James is averaging 26, 8 and 9, which is absurd but seems ho-hum in 2016-17.
It's wildly clear that Curry isn't going to win his third-straight MVP award, but he might pick up a few votes down the ballot thanks to this current stretch, during which the Warriors crossed the 60-win plateau for the third straight year (the first team since the Jordan Bulls to do it) and have led the NBA in defensive rating (94 points per 100 possessions) and net rating (+19.2).
The Warriors are playing some of their best basketball of the season — they've locked in on the defensive end and are moving the ball with ease and vigor on the offensive side. They look like the Warriors of old ... and they're about to add Durant.
Take the Warriors' Tuesday win over Houston as testament to the team and Curry's strong forms.
Golden State jumped out to a big lead, as Houston seemed uninterested in playing any sort of defense and the Warriors were knocking down their open shots, as they are wont to do. But the game drew closer as Harden began to control pace as only he can, turning the game into a cacophony of whistles.
But just as the game looked to be slipping out of the Warriors' hands, Curry took over the contest, scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter, including this dagger...
https://twitter.com/warriors/status/846913232690331648
...and this ridiculous shot a few moments later that might result in injury if you went out and tried it:
https://streamable.com/a87tf
That is the Curry who was the driving force of the NBA's best team over the last two years. And while he took a backseat for the first four months of the season, the absence of Durant has forced he and his team to find their identity once again.
The question going forward is not how the Warriors will adapt to Durant's return to the lineup — no, with the way Curry and the Warriors are playing, the question should be how will Durant assimilate himself to the Warriors?
