NBA

Curry shows no signs of slowing down for Warriors after leading NBA revolution

By Sports Desk March 15, 2021 1610

Stephen Curry has "revolutionised basketball" as the point guard continues to show he is back to his best for the Golden State Warriors this season.  

Curry saw his 2019-20 campaign ruined by a hand injury, restricting him to just five games. Already without Kevin Durant, who had left to join the Brooklyn Nets, and Klay Thompson, the Warriors unsurprisingly went from NBA finalists to bottom of the pile in the Western Conference.  

However, the return of their talismanic point guard has helped improve fortunes for a franchise that has become accustomed to challenging for the title.  

Still without fellow 'Splash Brother' Thompson, who is sidelined again for another season, Curry has stepped up to carry the load.  

He is averaging 29.3 points while playing 34 minutes per game. His tally of 176 made three-pointers is comfortably the most in the league, and he is shooting an impressive 41.1 per cent from deep, even while having a target on his back as opposing teams focus on shutting him down.  

What makes it so hard to keep a lid on Curry, though, is his ability to get a bucket from anywhere, including from off the court during pre-game warm-ups.

Anderson Varejao believes his former Golden State team-mate has changed the game by extending the range for shooters, starting a trend that others have since followed in the league. 

"Steph Curry is a guy who trains so much," Varejao, who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers for over a decade before joining the Warriors, told Stats Perform News. 

"All that stuff he does, shooting the ball from mid-court, he revolutionised basketball.   

"In the past, if a player, in a counter-attack, stopped and shot, the coach would look at him, if not take him out.

"Many times, players left the game even after hitting the ball in the basket, like, 'hey, what are you doing? Are you crazy? We don't play like that'.   

"But nowadays he is a guy that shoots all the time, and you have to understand it, as a coach. He shoots three, four, five steps before the three-point line."

Curry turned 33 on Sunday and is fast approaching 750 regular-season games for the Warriors, a team who hit the jackpot when selecting the Davidson standout with the seventh overall pick in the 2009 draft.  

However, having had an enforced year off, there is little sign of him slowing down. Indeed, his numbers this season have seen him included in the MVP conversation, an award he won in 2015 and 2016.  

He celebrated his birthday with six three-pointers in the Warriors' impressive win over the Utah Jazz, finishing with 32 points and nine assists to help the team bounce back from a disappointing defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers following the All-Star break.  

"It's like that ageing wine, right? Keep it in the cellar and watch it get stronger and better. I'm just enjoying the ride," he told NBC Sports after silencing the Jazz, the last team to reach double digits for losses this season.  

Curry's play has the Warriors hovering around .500 and in the playoff picture. There is still a long way to go yet this season, but the face of the franchise is certainly all the way back after a lost year in his hall-of-fame career.

Last modified on Monday, 15 March 2021 07:48
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