National Basketball Association

Warriors' Curry resembles Mr. Everyman -- until he takes court

Published May. 29, 2015 1:40 a.m. ET

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When the Cleveland Cavaliers face the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, they'll be trying to stop a guy who looks a lot like you and me.

Stephen Curry isn't imposing. He doesn't have the raw size, strength and speed of Cavs star LeBron James. Unless Curry is on the floor, he doesn't really command a room. And in postgame press conferences, Curry sometimes plays second fiddle to his 2-year old daughter, Riley.

Curry is listed as 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds. Both numbers are fairly generous. It's probably closer to 6-1 and 175. So when the Warriors drafted him with the No. 7 overall pick in 2009 -- well, it was about the equivalent of hoping to land the 5-8 freckle-faced freshman in a YMCA pickup game.

It's true that the NBA is no longer a place dominated by hulking 7-footers who station themselves on the low block and demand the ball. But there is still plenty of muscle, plenty of raw athleticism, plenty of swingmen who can simply overpower or outrun their foes.

Curry is none of those things. Yet Curry is the NBA MVP. Yet Curry is coming off a Western Conference finals win over the Houston Rockets in which he averaged a whopping 31.2 points and buried nearly 50 percent of his 3-point attempts (five games).

How does this happen?

The answer is easy, and it consists of two words: Work ethic. Of course, that's just the simple response. For Curry, basketball doesn't actually feel like work. When you possess superb ballhandling skills and a sweet shooting stroke, it's because you simply love the game. It's because you can't imagine your day-to-day existence without it.

And it's because you were taught how to play the game the right way. Then you go out on the floor and put that knowledge to practice. Not in games -- in practice. A lot of times, such sessions comes alone, with no bright lights or big cities or begging-for-an-autograph fans.

Knowing your drills

Taking in Curry's pregame routine alone can show you how to do it right. He performs basically the same routine before every game.

He starts with five minutes of ballhandling drills, dribbling between his legs, and pounding the ball and slapping the ball to "get your hands kind of used to the ball," he recently told the San Jose Mercury News.

Then the jumpers begin. He typically starts by working on form and feel, getting loose as he breaks a little bit of a sweat. In other words, these aren't the long-range bombs for which Curry has become known in games.

"Some flip shots and runners, just to work on your touch," was how he described the process to the Mercury News. "Hopefully, you start close to the basket; you see the ball going in a lot more."

As he begins to feel more comfortable, he steps out further.

"Then it's just working around the arc in five spots -- catch-and-shoot, off-the-dribble and then shooting threes."

Curry performs this routine for about 15-20 minutes per session. According to the Mercury News story, he tries to make 31 threes "and about 80 2-pointers of various types, at different spots, using either hand for the close-in shots."

There were times, when the 27-year old Curry was a kid, that this process took a lot longer. There were times when he would do the entire routine two or three times. There were times when he would play pickup ball for hours upon hours -- often with older kids nearly twice his size.

You don't become MVP on skills alone. You also need some serious heart. You also need to believe in yourself despite your lack of some of basketball's most-respected physical traits.

No worries. Curry has that type of confidence, too.

For instance, he dared to box out massive Rockets center Dwight Howard in the West finals. Then Curry went and grabbed the rebound.

He plays with fire, he passes with precision, he creates scoring chances for himself with the greatest of ease.

None of it happens by accident. None of it often comes from a man with such a slight frame (by NBA standards, anyway). But along with James, Curry will be the most dangerous man on the court.

Again, he may not look the part. He may not wow the crowd with amazing dunks in the pregame layup line. And if you didn't know who he was, you may not even beg to land him in your YMCA pickup game.

But the Cavs will need to be very aware of Stephen Curry in every moment of every game -- as even one slip-up in allowing this littler guy to get going could be the difference in the series.