NBA scores 2017: Stephen Curry more than made up for his worst game in 4 years

Curry was atrocious against Boston, so he scored 74 points in the two games since.

Nov 20, 2017, 12:30 PM UTC

NBA: Golden State Warriors at Brooklyn Nets

Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Stephen Curry had four turnovers and just nine points last Thursday in a surprising loss to the Boston Celtics. It was arguably his worst game in the past four seasons, at least in the regular season. It was not, however, an indictment on anything else. Curry’s next two games made sure of that.

In Curry’s last eight quarters, including Sunday’s 118-111 win against the Brooklyn Nets, Curry has 74 points, 16 rebounds, 12 assists, and eight made threes. He exploded in the third quarter of Saturday’s game against the 76ers — where Golden State erased a 24-point deficit.

There is actually some evidence that Curry is declining ever so slightly. Here’s the Vice Sports article arguing it, but don’t freak out just yet: It’s hardly a hot take. Curry’s pull-up three-point shooting has been getting slightly worse, statistically, over the past few years, and that’s enough to say that he’s not at his consecutive-MVP-awards peak. He’s still an MVP-caliber player, of course.

Curry’s still a player who can drop 35 and 39 points in consecutive games, and he quickly erased any bad memories from his nine-point stinker against Boston.

Lonzo Ball’s rookie season seesaw continues

First he’s bad — can’t shoot — then he’s good — youngest ever to get a triple-double! — and then bad and good all over again. Ball notched his second triple-double on Sunday, finishing with 11 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists. He still struggled with his shot, but it was a good showcase of his other skills.

Here’s a measured take that rarely accompanies the Ball family: Lonzo has elite NBA skills with his height at the point guard position and vision, and those things will treat him well. His shot, whatever you make of the form, will take more time. He’s not a bust, but clearly not a superstar, either. We don’t have to hyperventilate at every good or bad performance, but of course we will, and now you know we all will, so you can’t get mad when it happens.

The men of Denver were extremely mad

Mike Malone’s was deserved, but I’m not so sure about Nikola Jokic’s. What did he do? Sure, he wasn’t saying anything nice about the referee, but that’s technical-foul-level stuff, not a get-outta-the-game-because-I’m-the-real-show moment of on-court power abuse. Oh well, our favorite Serbian son will live to play another game.

We have a wonderful new reaction gif

Possible captions include:

[At McDonald’s] “The shake machine is down? Again!?”
“When the text bubbles go away and she doesn’t reply to your text”
When you hear that honey bees are dying at an alarming rate
That moment when a fire beat comes on and then it gets ruined by Big Sean rapping over it

Myles Turner still has myles of development

This forgotten unicorn hasn’t looked all that magical this season. Turner is a 6’11 center who can dribble, shoot threes, and play stout defense, but what was hoped to be a breakout season has actually been slightly worse than last year’s efforts. There’s still a lot of time left this year, and maybe Turner will force his name into these unicorn discussions more often with games like Sunday, where he 25 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and four blocks on 11-of-14 shooting.

He’s also still 21 years old, and the Indiana Pacers are unexpectedly over .500 this season despite his average play, so there are infinite reasons to remain optimistic.