The Golden State Warriors have only just begun digging themselves out of an early-season hole. Friday’s feel-good win over the New York Knicks was a positive step in the right direction, but still no surefire indicator of the Warriors’ ability to repeat as champions come spring and summer.
Here’s what to know from the Warriors’ much-needed win over the Knicks, including Klay Thompson finally starting to settle in. https://t.co/MAiVq7N076
— Warriors Nation (@WarriorNationCP) November 19, 2022
Golden State, though, isn’t the only Western Conference team with aspirations of a deep playoff run that’s underwhelmed over the first month of 2022-23. And unlike the LA Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers, at least the Warriors can rely on the best offensive player in basketball while trying to muster a consistently winning identity.
Stephen Curry, unbelievably, has been better than ever during his team’s uneven 7-9 start, building on the epic performance that resulted in winning his first Finals MVP last June.
How’s he doing it? The league’s all-time leader in triples has extended his peerless touch and shot-making flair to the rim, where Curry is suddenly among the most dominant finishers in basketball.
1 pleasant surprise for Warriors early in 2022-23: Stephen Curry’s finishing
Curry is shooting a mind-blowing 76.4% at the rim this season, per NBA.com/stats. That’s not just an easy career-high, but the ninth-best mark in the league among players who have taken at least 55 shots from the restricted area.
The lone guard more efficient from that hallowed ground than Curry? Donovan Mitchell, whose explosiveness is obviously on a whole different level than Curry’s. Jayson Tatum is the only other non-big who’s been better than Curry at the rim; the seven other players above him in restricted area accuracy all stand 6’11 or taller.
It’s not like Curry’s proficiency around the basket is being boosted by easy layups and dunks created via lobs or dump-offs from teammates, either. He’s shooting 61.4% on drives, per NBA.com/stats, fourth-best in the league behind Luka Doncic, Mitchell and De’Aaron Fox, not to mention a full 12 points higher than his mark last season.
After going 7-of-9 from the restricted area in the Warriors’ early November win over Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Curry was asked to explain how he’s leveled up as a finisher at 34 years old, in his 14th NBA season.
“Obviously knowing I can shoot the ball and can put a lot of pressure on defenses there, you gotta be able to have a changeup to get to the paint and find creative ways to finish. I’m not playing above the rim, so it’s just a matter of playing angles and having some touch in there,” he said. Nate Duncan. “But you gotta use your shot as a threat to open up driving lanes, and I’ve been able to do that even coming off great screens from guys. Not being afraid of contact, either. I don’t get to the foul line that much, but still, just trying to figure out how to get your lane, get your driving angle, protect the ball, get it on the rim and hope it goes down.”
Curry’s effectiveness at the rim isn’t entirely new. It was on display throughout the Warriors’ championship run last season, a driving force behind his ability to roast the Boston Celtics’ array of standout individual defenders in isolation from all three levels of the floor.
Draymond Green boasted in late June that Golden State would win “three of the next four championships” largely due to a bigger, stronger Curry taking bumps on the drive and finishing anyway. That’s definitely an optimistic assessment of the Warriors’ future, but not because Green is wrong about his long-time teammate’s evolution.
“I’m pretty sure that’s why we’ll win three of the next four NBA championships.” Draymond Green has utmost confidence in Steph Curry and the Dubs going forward.https://t.co/s22n3uC9Ze
— Warriors Nation (@WarriorNationCP) June 28, 2022
Curry certainly wasn’t converting these shots on the path to superstardom in the mid-2010s, or even when Kevin Durant called the Bay home. He embraces physicality around the basket now, fully confident he’s built up the power needed to finish through defenders.
The same attributes that make him the best shooter ever separate Stephen Curry from even the likes of Mitchell and Fox as a finisher on the drive, too. No player in the league—with the notable exception of Doncic—can match his combination of touch, ingenuity and balance through contact while penetrating.
Watch him beat Bam Adebayo, one of the league’s best isolation defenders, off the bounce in the clip below, then briefly slow down to bump him and create additional space to finish.
It’s not fair for defenders.
There used to be a blueprint for defending Stephen Curry. The Cleveland Cavaliers utilized it to perfection in the 2016 NBA Finals, switching across five positions to press him on the perimeter and make Curry feel constant contact once he creased the paint, a plan he’s rendered wildly outdated.
No NBA player is truly “unstoppable.” But like his shooting prowess changed the game forever, Curry’s newfound status as an elite finisher is expanding the limits of what seems possible for even all-time greats late in their careers.
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