Stephen Curry is bringing extra magic to the court despite LeBron James’ transcendent performances in Cleveland’s losing efforts.
OAKLAND, Calif. — All we know for sure is that there was an oversized glove in Stephen Curry ‘s locker after he drained an NBA Finals-record nine 3-pointers Sunday night in the Golden State Warriors ‘ 122-103 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
It was much too big for his hand to ever wear. And it was a left-handed glove that made a silly noise when he accidentally knocked it over as he dressed quietly following the game. (Curry, of course, is right-handed.)
But damn if it didn’t seem like Curry had a little extra magic flowing Sunday night as he scored 16 of his game-high 33 points and made five of his nine 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to put away the Cavs and move the Warriors to within two games of their third title in four years.
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Despite the Cavs’ success against the Celtics and the fact they have now held their ground somewhat against the Warriors, the last thing LeBron James wants his team to do is ease up.
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Stephen Curry broke Ray Allen’s NBA Finals record with nine 3-pointers as the Warriors led wire-to-wire in an easy Game 2 win over the Cavs.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry set an NBA Finals record by hitting nine 3-pointers in Sunday’s win over the Cavaliers, breaking the previous mark held by former Celtics star Ray Allen.
Despite the Cavs’ success against the Celtics and the fact they have now held their ground somewhat against the Warriors, the last thing LeBron James wants his team to do is ease up.
« I think it’s Thor’s, » Curry said with a shrug, referring to the Marvel Comics superhero.
Um, close.
« No, that’s Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet, » Golden State second-year center Damian Jones said. Jones is 22 years old and clearly more up on his Avengers than the 30-year-old Curry.
But after three average-by-his-standards NBA Finals appearances, Curry finally seems poised to win a Finals MVP award if the Warriors can close out Cleveland.
« It looks like he’s lining himself up for something great if we continue to win, » Warriors forward Draymond Green told ESPN.
Curry is averaging 31 points, 8.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds in the first two games of the 2018 Finals. Those are gaudy numbers compared to his pedestrian numbers in previous Finals, when Andre Iguodala (2015) and Kevin Durant (2017) were recognized as most valuable players despite Curry’s primacy as the Golden State leader during the regular season — not to mention Cleveland defeating Golden State in 2016.
But it’s how and when Curry has been scoring in these Finals that really has stood out.
According to ESPN Stats & Information tracking, Curry:
Has scored or assisted on more points in transition (35) than the Cavaliers have scored as a team (33) in the first two games.
Is hitting 45 percent on his 3-pointers after shooting 38.5 percent, 40 percent and 38.8 percent each of the past three years.
Is averaging 31 points after averaging 26.0 in 2015,22.6 in 2016 and 26.8 in 2017.
Curry stepping up in 2018 NBA Finals
Through two games of the 2018 NBA Finals, Golden State point guard Stephen Curry has improved on his previous NBA Finals appearances.
2015-17 2018
PPG 24.9 31.0
FG pct 43% 45%
3-pt FG pct 39% 50%
APG 6.2 8.5
Through two games of the 2018 NBA Finals, Golden State point guard Stephen Curry has improved on his previous NBA Finals appearances.
On Sunday, Curry hit a flurry of 3-pointers in the decisive fourth quarter, including a few impossible heaves over Cavs power forward Kevin Love that were as deflating for Cleveland as they were intoxicating for the Oracle Arena crowd.
« I’ve seen him make so many crazy shots, » said Warriors assistant Bruce Fraser, who works with Curry daily and has become something of a household character because of the number of times Curry’s infamous pregame warm-ups are filmed.
« The first 10 you’re like, ‘That was lucky.’ But when he was shooting that ball [over Love, as the shot-clock expired], I thought there was a chance. I saw it leaving his hands and thought it was going in. Was it lucky? Yes. But was it really? How many people that know him were saying, ‘That’s missing?’ I wasn’t. »
Fraser works with Curry so much, he’s come to believe the two-time regular-season MVP’s unique genetic gift is in his hand eye coordination.
Give him any game — tennis, stickball, golf — and Curry would master it because of his hand-eye coordination, Fraser says.
« This is a genetic gift that he puts time into, » Fraser explained. « If you are right-handed and you start to work on your runners and stuff, over time you can get pretty good at it. But if you go to your left hand, it’s going to take you forever. Steph goes to his left and he can flip runners with his left better than anyone in the world can flip right-handed.
« Is that because he’s shot a million of them? No. He’s shot thousands of them, not a million. So why can he do that? It’s a genetic gift. »
Of course, the other side to Curry’s genetics are that he’s a slender 6-foot-3 in a game that’s often dominated by much taller, more physical men. The contrast is especially pronounced in this series in which the 6-foot-8,250-pound LeBron James is dominating every facet of the game so far, but hasn’t gotten enough help from his teammates to earn a win yet.
After watching James in this series — and, really, these entire playoffs — there’s little doubt he’s the best player in the NBA. He should probably be considered a series MVP, no matter if Cleveland wins or loses. That’s how transcendent James has been so far, averaging 40 points a game and contributing to 65 points a game overall.
LeBron James discusses how the Warriors defended him and says the odds being stacked against him are nothing new.
The Warriors have more talent across the board, anyway. But the Cavs self-inflicted mental mistakes, lapses and lack of shot-making to match or even complement James’ individual brilliance have cost them dearly and essentially wasted some of the best games of James’ career.
