If Stephen Curry gets cooking, the Golden State Warriors are nearly unstoppable.
No one can break an opponent’s spirit quite like Stephen Curry.
It doesn’t matter how well you defend him; he’s always a threat to pull up from 28 feet and hit nothing but net. Those jaw-dropping triples have the added benefit of demoralizing an opponent, as they give off the impression of inevitability. When forcing him into an off-balance, off-the-dribble three-point attempt isn’t enough to stop him, what is?
Curry enters the Finals on a three-game streak with 30-plus points, vaporizing any lingering questions about his health. In Games 6 and 7 of the Western Conference Finals against Oklahoma City, he went an eye-popping 13-of-26 from three-point range, including two backbreaking treys in the final four minutes of Game 6 that helped Golden State pull off the comeback and stave off elimination. Defending the two-team MVP necessitates a razor-sharp team-wide focus, as his ability to slip around screens and pull up without hesitation makes him nearly unguardable.
The Cavaliers are well aware of just how lethal Curry can be as a scorer. During their two regular-season matchups, Golden State outscored Cleveland by 38.2 points per 100 possessions with Curry on the floor, per NBA.com. With him on the bench, the Cavaliers held a 16.0-point-per-100-possession advantage.
So… there’s that.
In the Warriors’ 132-98 rout of Cleveland on January 18, it only took Curry 28 minutes to ring up 35 points on 12-of-18 shooting (including 7-of-12 from deep), five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
During last year’s Finals, Curry struggled to find his stroke against Matthew Dellavedova’s smothering defense at first, finishing 5-of-23 overall and 2-of-15 from deep in Game 2. Once the fourth quarter of Game 3 rolled around, however, he cracked the code, going off for 17 of his 27 points (including 5-of-8 from beyond the arc). Over the final three contests, Curry averaged 28.0 points on 49.2 percent shooting overall and 45.2 percent from three-point range, including an exhilarating 37-point effort in Game 5.
If Chef Curry gets cooking against Cleveland, particularly from three-point range, the Bay Area faithful can look forward to another parade in a few weeks’ time.
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