The Stephen Curry Thread (2015-16 Pt. 2)

[Dr Spaceman]

And I wouldn't draw equivalence between "torn knee ligament" and "banged up". From everything I know about that injury, Curry came back very quickly.

Not true as I pointed out above. There were 17 days in between game 3 vs HOU and game 4 vs POR. WebMD tells us

Mild or grade 1 injuries usually get better in 1 to 3 weeks and may only need home treatment along with using crutches for a short time.

And I don't mean you specifically, but it's pretty clear people are going to say Curry's injury was a "factor" in the series going forward for ideological reasons. I've seen plenty of people on basketball twitter who are GSW fans because they're pro-analytics and anti-Barkley's type of thinking. If GSW loses to OKC, people like Barkley and Cowherd and so on will resurrect all the nonsensical arguments they've been peddling for years, and unfortunately that's going to put people who are interested in the analytical side of the game in a defensive posture, even though the narrative that sets GSW up as a new-school jump shooting team and OKC as a throwback to the superstar iso-ball is garbage.

The second part your your post I agree with, and I hope people don't go overboard.

Re: the first part, that prognosis is meant for people walking up a flight of stairs to get to their desk. No one but his doctor knows how his body handles it and nobody but his trainer knows how quickly he can work up to game speed.

[thizznation]

Copy pasting one paragraph you read from WebMD isn't really constructing a good argument for Curry not being injured. You haven't seen an X-Ray or MRI, even if you did you probably wouldn't know what to do with it. Google doesn't make you a doctor. It doesn't work that way.

[PaulieWal]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/haralabob/status/735887087845548032[/tweet]

Gasp, they are making him work for those open looks and he's struggling. Stop the presses!

[gaf234]

Copy pasting one paragraph you read from WebMD isn't really constructing a good argument for Curry not being injured. You haven't seen an X-Ray or MRI, even if you did you probably wouldn't know what to do with it. Google doesn't make you a doctor. It doesn't work that way.

Is that 'sources with knowledge of the team's thinking?' Nobody has said anything about Steph being 70 percent to me. Training staff, relatives, friends, sources with knowledge of the team's thinking -- nobody has told me he's 70 percent. Evidently they told the media but not me.... I know he's not injured -- if he were injured, he would not be playing. Is he bothered a little bit, perhaps by the layoff when he went three weeks without a game? He may not be quite where he needs to be, but it's not an injury, and that's the important thing.

My knee is fine

I'm dead serious that anyone claiming that Curry is not battling an injury right now is being intellectually dishonest.

[Cuban_Linx]

I feel the 40 pt game and im back are being exaggerated too much. He got a ton of open looks as portland kept playing too far back giving too much respect on his jumper. They are also much wealer at the guards defensively, it was clear to me in that game though he had a good shooting night it looked tougher fpr him than many of his other 40 point nights. I feel when GS inevitably loses ( thunder are most likely not gonna win 3 in a row, spare me the jinx talk btw ) how curry plays in next years playoffs will be a good indication of how much of this is related to health

He had a ton of wide open shots in the 3rd quarter of game 4 too and he just missed them.

Can't blame injuries for that when he was just making those same shots in game 2 a week before that and in the historic Portland game. I mean, he's missing free throws and airballing those high layups he always throws up. At this point it's just a combination of mental and physical fatigue. There's no knee injury out there forcing him to miss free throws 2 weeks after he's been declared good to go.

[JulesWinnfield]

Between the size and the baby face people infantilize Steph more than anyone I've ever seen. It's an impossible pill for some to swallow, seeing their favorite cute little kitten getting devoured by the roaming neighborhood coyote named Russell Westbrook. I'm a huge Steph fan but he's getting outplayed right now, simply put. Whether or not he is 100%, he is healthy enough to make a big impact.

If they lose this series he's going to get some backlash for once. Happens to everyone at that level. Especially when they get built up to the degree we've built Steph up. Even when deserved (and his season certainly deserved the praise he got) there comes a point when it gets nauseating and some backlash is inevitable. Golden State being so low key arrogant doesn't help either.

[GSP]

Between the size and the baby face people infantilize Steph more than anyone I've ever seen. It's an impossible pill for some to swallow, seeing their favorite cute little kitten getting devoured by the roaming neighborhood coyote named Russell Westbrook. I'm a huge Steph fan but he's getting outplayed right now, simply put. Whether or not he is 100%, he is healthy enough to make a big impact.

If they lose this series he's going to get some backlash for once. Happens to everyone at that level. Especially when they get built up to the degree we've built Steph up. Even when deserved (and his season certainly deserved the praise he got) there comes a point when it gets nauseating and some backlash is inevitable. Golden State being so low key arrogant doesn't help either.

I havent seen a top player more babied since pre aids Magic.

Its gonna be hilarious to see the 180 after Steph goes off tonight.

[PaulieWal]

Between the size and the baby face people infantilize Steph more than anyone I've ever seen. It's an impossible pill for some to swallow, seeing their favorite cute little kitten getting devoured by the roaming neighborhood coyote named Russell Westbrook. I'm a huge Steph fan but he's getting outplayed right now, simply put. Whether or not he is 100%, he is healthy enough to make a big impact.

If they lose this series he's going to get some backlash for once. Happens to everyone at that level. Especially when they get built up to the degree we've built Steph up. Even when deserved (and his season certainly deserved the praise he got) there comes a point when it gets nauseating and some backlash is inevitable. Golden State being so low key arrogant doesn't help either.

I havent seen a top player more babied since pre aids Magic.

Its gonna be hilarious to see the 180 after Steph goes off tonight.

I'm expecting a big game from him tonight. Won't have to hear about his knee at least for the next 48 hours.

[JulesWinnfield]

Logic says Golden State staves off elimination tonight on their home court, but I'm really not sure. I wouldn't be surprised to see OKC close this out. If OKC starts fast at all the dubs are going to have that "here we go again" feeling creep in. The Warriors just have the look of a stunned fighter. They can't even see the blows coming. It would be human nature for them to be shell shocked when you experience winning at the level they have over the past year only to see it unravel like this. They're stunned. I think they might be broken mentally. Home court will obviously help. We'll see

[toodles23]

I honestly don't have a clue what's going to happen tonight - there's no outcome that would shock me. I usually have a gut feeling before playoff games, but not this one.

I just hope Curry really has a big game tonight. It would be so disappointing to see such a thunderously dominant season end with such a whimper.

[JeepCSC]

Shell-shocked is right. It might even be more egregious than the '14 Finals, where Lebron was spacey but when he decided to show up at least did well.

[2klegend]

He is not injure. The intensity of the playoff add to the fact OKC is playing him tighter. He extends more energy to defend Westbrook, and being down and tire, now every shot he took become a little shaky and difficult. This is to be expected. If anything, it kinds of expose Curry ability to play when his back is against the wall. In addition, this is not the first time he showed this type of underperforming. The NBA final last year proved that.

[kayess]

Between the size and the baby face people infantilize Steph more than anyone I've ever seen. It's an impossible pill for some to swallow, seeing their favorite cute little kitten getting devoured by the roaming neighborhood coyote named Russell Westbrook. I'm a huge Steph fan but he's getting outplayed right now, simply put. Whether or not he is 100%, he is healthy enough to make a big impact.

If they lose this series he's going to get some backlash for once. Happens to everyone at that level. Especially when they get built up to the degree we've built Steph up. Even when deserved (and his season certainly deserved the praise he got) there comes a point when it gets nauseating and some backlash is inevitable. Golden State being so low key arrogant doesn't help either.

I **** love the Coyote analogy, but that's just asking for bad juju if Steph suddenly turns into the Roadrunner and pulls out ACME THREE POINT SHOOTING bull

[PaulieWal]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/tomhaberstroh/status/735983438075994114[/tweet]

[therealbig3]

He is not injure. The intensity of the playoff add to the fact OKC is playing him tighter. He extends more energy to defend Westbrook, and being down and tire, now every shot he took become a little shaky and difficult. This is to be expected. If anything, it kinds of expose Curry ability to play when his back is against the wall. In addition, this is not the first time he showed this type of underperforming. The NBA final last year proved that.

He had one lousy game in the 2015 Finals, and he played great in the other 5. That series has elevated Dellavadova as this mythical Curry stopper based on one game in which Curry just missed shots.

With his back against the wall...meaning after the Cavs went up 2-1...

Curry (3 games): 28/6/5, 65% TS, 114 ORating

All 3 games were GS wins, with an MOV of +14.0.

How about when Memphis went up 2-1...

Curry (3 games): 28/7/7, 61% TS, 113 ORating

All 3 games were GS wins, with an MOV of +16.7.

[therealbig3]

As for this series...I don't think he's injured. I just think he's playing like crap. And that sucks, and that's definitely a black mark on his season up to this point.

But I don't think he's a fraud or an underachiever in the playoffs, because he's pretty much always shown up and always played well in the playoffs throughout his career.

FWIW though, yes, he's losing the H2H battle with Westbrook, but that hasn't really been GS's problem. Their defense has fallen apart, and both Green and Klay have really struggled offensively in their own right. Curry's only bad offensive game of this series was game 4...Klay's only good offensive game was game 4. Green has been bad throughout, maybe with the exception of game 2, and he's being abused defensively.

[JulesWinnfield]

I will always love Marv Albert and hearing his voice in these games is a staple of the NBA experience, but he's just too sloppy at this point to tolerate. He gets lost way too often in these games and has no idea what's going on. It's like Pat Summerall at the end. It's sad.

[Clyde Frazier]

I will always love Marv Albert and hearing his voice in these games is a staple of the NBA experience, but he's just too sloppy at this point to tolerate. He gets lost way too often in these games and has no idea what's going on. It's like Pat Summerall at the end. It's sad.

Doesn't help that Webber is literally yelling over him throughout the game. One of the few things TNT messed up was putting Shaq in the studio instead of him. He's more insightful, not bizarrely insecure and pretty passionate about discussing things for real. As a color commentator, though he's been pretty bad. Borderline-mark jackson just spewing cliches and not really saying anything of substance. Surprised a producer hasn't said something to him yet.

Oh, and curry looking like curry again. This is fun.

[therealbig3]

Webber is awful as a color commentator.

Marv lost it a while ago, I feel like he's been bad for like a decade now.

[ronnymac2]

Oh, and curry looking like curry again. This is fun.

Really?

This is the first I've really sat down and watched this series (been only watching highlights). Curry looks like he has less energy than normal out there to me. Jogging back on d, not cutting as relentlessly off-ball, and lacking spring. Not sure if this is how he's looked all series, but he looks either fatigued or he just doesn't have his wind. Not playing poorly tonight, but not MVP-level either.

That said, I agree, fun game so far.