Warrior Wonder: Steph Curry takes control against the Nets

Steph Curry has seen it all.

In fact, Curry is the sole remaining player from his rookie year roster and the last man standing from the rebirth of the franchise. Fitting really, since Curry himself is the phoenix at the epicenter of the ashes of the old — a blazing hot beacon of basketball awesomeness that draws in players like his on-court game draws in defenses.

Curry was exceptional yet again last night against the New Jersey Nets: 34 points (on 20 shots), 6-for-12 from three, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block in about 34 minutes of action. Wonderful.

It started early, with a 25-0 first quarter run — a run that took just about four minutes of game time and featured the disheartening dominance that has become almost a trademark of these Curry-led Warriors. Floaters, off-the-dribble handoffs, pull up threes, defense, rebounding, Curry is one of the most complete players in the NBA, thriving among a veritable sea of larger, more athletic players. Within that 25-0 run, Curry scored the last 11 straight points to close the quarter.

Put some respect on his name

I’m not going to say that Curry is under-rated, but I do think that perhaps the greatness of this current season has been a little bit overlooked. Looking at the gameflow from last night’s game, Curry was instrumental in both of the steepest runs. We already mentioned that he scored the final 11 in that big first quarter run, but he was also huge in the 3rd quarter, where he poured in 18 of the team’s 38 points.

As our resident genius, Sleepy Freud mentioned earlier this morning, Steph is so ridiculous:

Per 36 minutes this season: 29.5 pts on .675 true shooting / 5.7 reb / 6.9 ast / 1.8 stl

You can argue that his unanimous MVP season was the greatest offensive season in NBA history, and he’s been right at that level this year.

James Harden is getting all the hype for MVP this season, and it’s not that it isn’t well deserved, but Curry has been putting up similar (if not straight up better) numbers this season. Both players are averaging about 30 points per 36 minutes, both players have around 5 rebound and 2 steals per game; Harden has three more assists per game, but this is more a result of usage than anything else (Harden leads all major players with a usage percentage of just over 36%).

But Steph Curry is significantly more efficient, and more impactful — where his godly true shooting percentage is a stratospheric .675. Look at some of the delusional replies to this tweet, the basketball world at large seriously underestimates Curry’s impact because he plays significantly less minutes, and isn’t asked to dominate the ball nearly as much.

Curry is the franchise, and the franchise is elite because of it - but it wasn’t always this way

In handing out these single-game awards, it’s becoming harder and harder to separate his game-to-game impact from the transformation that Curry has witnessed along with all of us long-suffering fans.

In lists of “favorite Warriors player of all time” Curry’s recent dominance has vaulted him into a legitimate, non-bandwagon candidate for the greatest Dub ever. His production already has him among the elites of the Warriors pantheon (a relatively empty, dusty pedestal to be sure):

Last night, Curry put up 34 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, 3 steals, and 1 block... and that includes only playing three non-scoring minutes in the fourth quarter.

That’s enough for me, and more than enough to put away the Nyets. But the glory of this guy’s game is that he does this all the time.

A true Warrior Wonder.