Tuesday NBA Roundup: Stephen Curry Masking
Golden State Warriors' Problems
After their 127-104 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night, it's easy to assume the Golden State Warriorshave finally shown what they can do when operating at full strength.
They held the lethal backcourt combination of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum in check while
playing in the arena that ranked as the No. 6 home-court advantage in NBA.com's annual GM survey. They
exploded on offense behind a barrage of three-pointers, pulling ahead with a
41-point third quarter and never looking back. They even received an unlikely
bench contribution, as Ian Clark dropped a 22-spot on a perfect 8-of-8 from the
field.
But this isn't the best Golden State will play in 2016-17,
becauseStephen Curry masked
so many of the team's flaws.
Curry scored a
mere five points during the first half, pestered by multiple defenders on many
possessions and often taking a backseat to his teammates—both the fellow stars
and the less heralded role players such as Clark. But he went supernova during
a 23-point third quarter, highlighted by a quintet of triples and the dazzling
reverse layup you can see below:
It was 2015-16
Curry showing up once again—the same one who won MVP in unanimous fashion for
the first time in league history while obliterating three-point records. It was
the version of the point guard who could seemingly will contested threes
through the nylon.
And that was
exactly what Golden State needed.
Curry's
one-man excellence propelled the Warriors to a 27-point lead after the third
quarter, even though they retreated to the visitor's locker room at halftime
with a mere six-point advantage. From there, it was easy to keep control of the
momentum as Portland desperately pushed the pace and struggled to recover in
transition.
Curry's
heroics left aftershocks that still worked in Golden State's favor.
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But the final score, and Curry's individual impact, help distract from the struggles that continue to plague Golden State. Its defense in particular was shaky during the first half, with numerous players switching incorrectly and the whole team relying on interior defense to make up for its perimeter mishaps.
But the final score, and Curry's individual impact, help distract from the struggles that continue to plague Golden State. Its defense in particular was shaky during the first half, with numerous players switching incorrectly and the whole team relying on interior defense to make up for its perimeter mishaps.
As ESPN.com's
Zach Lowe pointed out, it wasn't even the newcomers making mistakes:
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