Steve Kerr and Steph Curry will downplay this regular season Christmas Day loss against the Cavaliers as much as possible.
It’s one game of 82, and the Warriors are playing on an East Coast road trip that featured a back-to-back in Brooklyn and Detroit. The Warriors still have the best record in the league.
But facts are facts: Curry struggled to deliver against the Cavaliers — again — while his point guard counterpart Kyrie Irving nailed the game-winner and scored 14 of his 25 points in the final quarter in Cleveland’s 109-108 triumphant victory.
Curry’s disappearing act was less noticeable because Kevin Durant scored 36 points, and it’s obviously hard for both superstars to dominate at the same exact time. But LeBron showed up — 31 points, 13 rebounds. Kyrie showed up — 25 points, 10 assists, 7 steals. Klay Thompson showed up — 24 points on 5/11 from downtown. Richard Jefferson showed up — two momentum-swinging dunks in the fourth quarter.
One main character was missing. And if he goes missing for portions in an NBA Finals rematch, the Cavaliers will win back-to-back championships.
And listen, Curry did a lot of the little things right. He was passing well, he was setting screens. He was drawing the Cavs away from Durant on offense. His defense was not problematic, even though Kerr subbed him out on the final possession where Irving hit the game-winner. Curry did hit the go-ahead three-pointer with under two minutes remaining. Steph was not an utter failure on Christmas.
But 15 points on 2/7 shooting from three-point territory in a game that had a playoff type of atmosphere is concerning — considering the opponent. It doesn’t necessarily mean the Warriors will enter the 2017 NBA Finals as underdogs to the Cavaliers, but Irving and the Cavs are in possession of the momentum. The fear factor that Curry has given other NBA teams doesn’t really exist in Cleveland.
Remember Game 7 of the NBA Finals, when Curry scored just 17 points on 4/14 from downtown? Of course you do. And so does he. Curry averaged 22.6 points against Cleveland but 27.9 per game in the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder — a series in which Thompson was actually the most valuable Warriors player.
What’s scarier is that Curry becoming a non scoring-factor in this game was not a stunning development. He’s had his moments of explosion in 2016 — like when he set the NBA record for three-pointers in game with 13 — but he’s had plenty of nights fading in the background.
In fact, entering Sunday’s game, Curry’s three-point percentage is down from 48.9 percent to 42.9. According to Marcus Thompson, Curry has already missed 117 open threes this season. Curry ranks 36th in the NBA in three-point percentage. Even Chris Paul is shooting a better percentage.
The main reason the Warriors were totally fine uprooting Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes from an already championship-laden team was for this very reason — Curry needed more help. Thompson is a brilliant scorer, but he’s not the consistent force that Durant is. When Curry went cold against Cleveland, the Warriors ran out of gas. But even with Durant now carrying the torch most nights, Curry’s dominance is still necessary to win a title.
The Warriors losing by one point won’t be the worst thing in the world. The players will barely remember this result by the time June rolls around.
What Steve Kerr has to figure out in the next seven months: How do we get Steph Curry to shoot with consistency against the Cleveland Cavaliers? How do we make him the killer Kyrie Irving has morphed into during the biggest moments?
Because right now, no one really has an answer for that.