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This year, Steph Curry is passing his way to greatness
- Updated: December 7, 2016
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, center, looks for a pass under the basket as Atlanta Hawks’ Dwight Howard (8) defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Nov. 28, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. Golden State won 105-100. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Lost in all of the hysteria over the Warriors’ incredible trio of scorers on this superteam is the way two-time MVP Stephen Curry has changed his game this season.
Curry, who put up 30.1 ppg in 34 minutes per game last season, has still had huge scoring nights this year. He put up 31 against the Suns two days before Thompson’s 60 point outburst–and he’s gone for 30-plus points nine times this season, including a 46-point outburst against the Pelicans.
But on Tuesday night, as soon as it became evident that Klay Thompson had something special going, Curry flipped his internal switch. He stopped looking for his own shot and instead went right into Steve Nash mode.
Curry was doing with the pass what he normally does with his shot—being awesomely ridiculous and even giving the world this magnanimous gift:
On numerous occasions, he sent PrimeTim dime-caliber passes off of rebounds right into streaking teammates’ fingertips, threading the needle better than David Carr (who was in attendance on Tuesday) or Tom Brady. He found teammates that didn’t even know they were open–in the perfect spot, at the perfect time.
Watch highlights of Thompson’s 60-point game and you’ll see several times when Curry either passed him open or hit him at the only precise moment in time in which he could have caught the ball and launched a shot or connected on a layup.
He led teammates for the kind of home-run passes that would sail out of bounds in NBA 2K12, the kind that would get you an elbow to the face if you kept it up in a pickup game.
Curry finished with 13 points and 11 assists through three quarters Tuesday, and you could argue that 15-20 of Thompson’s points are directly attributable to Curry–they happened because Steph made a great pass.
Even if Curry, who’s averaging 26 points and 6 assists right now, sees a dip in his scoring numbers this year, and even if fans decide that Durant, not him, is the best player on this Warriors juggernaut, his ambitious greatness won’t allow him to shrink or regress.
This dude is still one of the absolute best players in the sport, and he’s showing that by affecting the game in a completely different way than he did when he won two MVP’s.
He’s like Larry Bird (who turned 60 on Wednesday). He just keeps finding ways to get better.
Kevin Durant or not, Steph Curry is still at the height of his game.
And as we saw Tuesday night, that’s a scary thing.
