On Dec. 5, Stephen Curry did something we wouldn’t believe was possible if we hadn’t already seen it before this season: He didn’t make a three-pointer.
Stephen Curry is shooting 3s worse than he normally does. That will change.
Curry always plays better in the second half of the season.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Curry’s streak of consecutive games with a made three-pointer already ended on Nov. 4 when he failed to hit one after 157 games doing so. A month later, it happened again, as he shot 0 of 8 in a 17-point win against the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 5.
Two games later, after missing 14 of his next 20 treys, Curry’s three-point shooting fell below 40 percent. It has essentially stayed there — popping above it occasionally only to immediately fall back below again — until his seven threes hit against the Magic on Sunday.
There are a few reasons to think it’ll keep going up from here.
Curry asked for the ball to be in his hands more
Curry has never shot less than 42.4 percent from downtown in a season. It was never likely that his sub-40 percent shooting this season would last.
But from that 0-of-8 game on Dec. 5 to Jan. 20, a 22-game sample, Curry has been a 37.7 percent three-point shooter. In fact, he didn’t hit more than five threes in any game during that stretch. Last season, the most he ever went between hitting more than five threes was five games. Twice. That’s it.
Obviously, Kevin Durant’s addition has altered the dynamics of the Warriors offense. Golden State is still dominating — they have the league’s best offense and best record — but Curry’s numbers are down across the board from last year. A few days after the Warriors’ loss to the Cavaliers on Christmas Day, Curry talked about changing the team’s offensive approach.
“I definitely want to be in more pick-and-roll situations,” he told reporters. “Whether I’m getting shots or whether we’re manufacturing ball movement, that’s a strength of ours, regardless of how teams play us.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he thinks Curry has had to adjust more to Durant than anyone else on the roster. But since January started, Curry is getting his wish. The ball is in his hand more, in general — 80.5 touches with 5.4 average seconds per touch, vs. 76 touches and 4.7 seconds per touch before Jan. 1.
His struggles were because of his pull-up threes, and that’s on the rise again
Curry’s pull-up threes, which directly relate to pick-and-rolls, have been improving, too.
In Sunday’s game, Curry pushed himself back over 40 percent with a 7-of-13 shooting afternoon against the Orlando Magic, part of a 27-point performance. His first make came off a pick-and-roll that Orlando switched, and Nikola Vucevic had no chance. Curry dribbled over the screen, danced a little above the arc, and then fired up that blindingly quick shot off the dribble, splashing it home.
It was the Curry we came to know last year.
Those are the type of shots that Curry hasn’t made with his normal frequency this year. On pull-up threes this season, Curry is still shooting 32 percent, one year after hitting 43 percent. Obviously, that type of efficiency is absurd, but Curry is unique. He shot 42.5 percent on pull-up threes the year before and 39.4 percent if you go back three years. This year is the aberration for him.
However, since the start of January, Curry is shooting 40 percent (22 of 55) on pull-up threes. He’s also hitting 8 of 18 (44.4 percent) on threes after taking seven-plus dribbles.
That’s proof that the magic is coming back. Whenever Curry really starts dancing with the ball and hitting shots anyway, or when he takes the ball down the court the whole way and just nails a shot from 29 feet, you know he’s peaking.
Curry is historically even better after the All-Star break
This is something Curry has proven over and over again. In his first seven seasons, his three-point percentage rises from 42.6 percent to 46.6 percent after the All-Star break.
Last year was a rare exception, with his three-point percentage staying exactly the same percentage on both sides. But Curry had the greatest shooting season in NBA history last year, so that’s to be expected.
The season before that, Curry actually had the same “problem” he’s having this year. He shot 39.9 percent, just a tick under 40 percent, prior to the the All-Star break. He was still having a career year, but we wondered if his volume meant his percentage would stay in that range. Instead, he finished the second half hitting 51.7 percent on threes.
That’s the most likely outcome this year, too. Yes, his numbers have been down for him. But they never stay there.
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