Don't Worry About Curry In Game 3
Sunday night, as the final seconds ticked down in overtime, the Golden State Warriors had been stunned.
This team has lost in Oracle Arena four times this season - out of 50 games. The odds were in the Warriors favor after All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving ended his season early due to a broken kneecap, and NBA sophomore Matthew Dellavedova was forced to start in his place.
Although Dellavedova is not known as a shooter or ball handler like Irving, his defense on Stephen Curry appeared to save the Cavs chances of winning. When guarding Curry, Dellavedova held his shooting to 0 points, 0-8 from the field and four turnovers. Looking at the numbers, Dellavedova locked Curry down, but looking at the tape, that is hardly the case.
By watching the game, you could tell Curry was having a bad shooting night. He still scored 19 points by the end, but he missed 14 of his first 16 shots, finishing 2-for-15 from behind the arc. Statistically one of his worst nights as an NBA player.
How much of that result was caused by Dellavedova? I'd say very little.
A large part of his shots were wide open - shots he would otherwise make in any other game. For uncontested shots in Game 2, Curry ended up 1 for 9. Dellevedova didn't disrupt those shots and they still rimmed out.
This is what I like to call an "off night." It happens to every player at some point in his career.
So relax, Warriors fans. No, Dellavedova is not the kryptonite to Curry. No, he didn't get in his head. And finally, no, Curry doesn't have a concussion after his scary fall in Game four in Houston. He had an off night.
That's okay. Klay Thompson had a great game to compensate, putting up 34 points, but nobody really stepped up outside of that. This is the "valuable" part of MVP in Curry's case.
Curry has been a large part of the Warriors success in the postseason (and all year, really) and if he has an off night, others need to step up to fill in. If they don't, the Warriors have a much higher chance of losing.
Game 3 is a new game. Curry has a couple days to shake out any kinks, and Steve Kerr and his staff has a couple of days to figure out how to get other guys involved offensively.
It's a tie series now, it's time to trust that the system, coaches and players will get the job done in Cleveland.
