CLEVELAND — What in the world is wrong with Steph Curry?
The MVP, his head coach and his teammates don’t have answers as to why the magician of a point guard has been coming up short in the 2016 NBA Finals.
That’s the problem. Curry and the Warriors are thinking too much.
“This is hard,” Curry said. “Got to embrace the challenge.”
Let’s be crystal clear: Curry wasn’t fully responsible for the 120-90 waxing the Cavaliers put on Golden State in Game 3. When the Warriors lose, they tend to lose focus and get blown out of the water. There’s clearly plenty of time for Curry to prove he’s the league’s best player, deliver two more wins and another championship to the Bay Area.
It was Curry’s 2-point first half showing, though, that ruined any plans Golden State had on taking a commanding 3-0 lead and winning the series in an outright sweep. When the Warriors needed him to calm Cleveland’s raging storm early in the game, Curry was the one getting rained on. It wasn’t just an off shooting night, either. It was defensive breakdowns, a sloppy display of dribbling, six turnovers and no aggression when attacking the basket.
What transpired is simple: without the threat of a ‘Curry Flurry’, nothing could kill Cleveland’s confidence on Wednesday. Once the Cavs realized they had neutralized Steph, they weren’t going to be stopped. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving stepped on Golden State’s throats. The Warriors admitted Cleveland was hungrier, that they were out-competed.
Curry causes the ultimate mind game for an opponent, and when he’s off of his game, it leaves the window wide open for the Cavaliers. He understands the reverse effect is true for Golden State, too. When he’s off (outside of Game 1 of the NBA Finals), the Warriors feel like a fish out of water, gasping for air. They don’t play as loose and the game doesn’t feel as natural. When Steph is sputtering, it’s the game within the game. Teammates and coaches wait for him to set up his launching pad. When that doesn’t happen, it impacts the psyche of the team.
“It’s a tough grind to win a championship, and we understand that and we obviously want to play perfect basketball, we want to win every game, but it doesn’t happen that way,” Curry said.
“He just didn’t play well,” Steve Kerr said, followed by a shrug.
So how does he fix himself by Friday night?
Here’s the best guess: Curry isn’t shooting well (17/39 this series), he isn’t finding his spots cleanly on the floor thanks to Cleveland’s keen defense and it’s weighing him down mentally. Reading his body language, Curry is thinking entirely too often with the basketball in his hands instead of just going out there, attacking and having fun. He has to relax and realize there is margin for error — don’t try and get too cute, or press when you make a mistake. In Game 3, he was rigid. The pressure seems to be seeping into Curry’s thoughts.
There are two examples of this inherent pressure Curry dealt with in Game 3 and will continue to deal with the rest of the series. One had to do with his rival, the other with his head coach.
During the third quarter after a whistle, Curry drove to the basket to lay the ball in — a common practice for years in the NBA. Except Curry was met by a soaring LeBron James, who swatted the shot. There was nothing playful about the exchange. James was sending a message: nothing is going to come easy the rest of the way. James seems intent on living inside Curry’s head for the remainder of the NBA Finals.
“When you have the greatest shooter in the world trying to get an easy one or trying to get in rhythm, it’s our job to try to keep him out,” LeBron said. “No matter if it’s after the whistle or not. That was just my mindset. Anytime, if you’re a great player and you see the ball go in, no matter if it’s after the play or during the play, then you start feeling it. Not that you feel good because you know what you’re capable of, but it helps. So I didn’t want him to see the ball go in, even though he still made some.”
With 3:16 remaining in the second quarter, Kerr abruptly pulled Curry from the game, moments after Richard Jefferson stole a bad pass. It’s hard to recall a time Kerr pulled Curry out of the game with such force.
Even though he returned to the game 28 seconds later, Kerr’s move may have lingered in Curry’s head for a little while. It obviously didn’t ignite a fire under his star, though.
“I would have done the same thing,” Curry said. “He’s trying to get it some life and figure out a way to maybe get me going. It was a short talk, but it will carry over to Game 4, for sure, with the way we’ll start the game.”
Part of getting Curry right will be on his teammates. Veteran players fell on the sword in the locker room and probably will do the same during Thursday’s interview sessions.
“We played like sh– tonight,” Andrew Bogut told ESPN.com. “It wasn’t just one guy.”
But Curry is enough of a lightning rod to be that one guy who the entire team feeds off. He can be that one guy who silences a roaring Quicken Loans Arena. He can be the guy who scores 17 points in an overtime, who scores 15 points in 1:58 seconds, the guy who is a stone cold assassin, set on making the other team search for answers in the locker room.
The Warriors need Curry to find that guy. And they need it quickly before this series becomes 2-2 heading back to Oakland.