If you had any doubts about Steph Curry's truly historic greatness, look no further than what he's been able to do this season with the Golden State Warriors.
Last season, the Warriors had their worst season in years without Curry in tow, going 15-50 en route to the worst record in the league by far. After Klay Thompson went down in the offseason, this year was essentially chalked up as another season lost. Oh, how wrong we all were.
Now, the Warriors as a whole are nowhere near their apex in the mid-to-late 2010s, when it was ludicrous to presume anyone but them would win the NBA championship each year. But Steph, essentially on his own, has gotten them to a .500 record (29-29), essentially a 14 game improvement over last season. He has used this last scorching scoring stretch (an NBA record 11 straight 30-point games) to will the Dubs to the 9th seed in the Western Conference, and they are nipping on the heels of the Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks, neither of whom are nearly as hot.
This last performance was especially sweet, as the Warriors notched a convincing 107-96 win over the best team in the East, with Curry hanging 49 points to take down the mighty Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night. By the way, only two other players scored in double digits for Golden State, and no one else scored over 20. Curry himself accounted for nearly half of the team's points in the win.
Witnessing greatness.
Wardell Stephen Curry.
49 PTS
14-28 FG
10 threes pic.twitter.com/65X2ial2Q6— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 20, 2021
Monday's win just goes to show you how forgotten Steph Curry has been since the 2019 Finals when Golden State fell to the Toronto Raptors. Since then, the Warriors have been plagued by a steady dismantling of their core, either short-term or long, and suddenly everyone forgets what it means to be the greatest shooter of all time. Younger fans most likely won't even remember the absolute fear that Curry used to draw around the league before Kevin Durant came to Golden State, as he was liable to legitimately catch fire from 40 feet out.
Forget assassin, and forget daggers. Steph Curry has been a human artillery unit this season, and the Warriors are surging off of that performance alone. They are winners of five of their last six games, and it certainly isn't due to Andrew Wiggins or Draymond Green. These wins are also marked, mind you, by a pair of signature victories: Monday's over the Sixers, and one over the Denver Nuggets, both seeded at or near the top of their conferences.
Under just Steph, this Dubs team is legitimately liable to win against anybody. They have victories over the best team in the league (Utah), and not even the NBA's best defense can stop him from dropping 37 in a win (New York).
Long story short: around the All-Star break, we saw Steph Curry return to form on national television as one of the most entertaining players to watch in the NBA. But over the past few weeks, we have gotten a reminder of the fact that under his award-worthy smile and charm is the competitive fire of a three-time champion and two-time MVP. Steph Curry is an absolute killer, and possibly the most efficient in the league. So long as he has decent pieces around him to share in the defensive load (by the way, he's a net positive in that area too), a Curry-led team is liable to beat any squad in the NBA. And once those shots start really falling, there is nothing you can do except try to outrun and out-shoot him.
Of note: Curry is averaging the most points per game of his entire career (31.4, first in the NBA) as a “scrawny finesse player”, as well as some of the best-advanced stats since his unanimous MVP year. If the Warriors were only a little higher in the standings, he might be a lock for the MVP again. At least Jokic has Michael Porter, Jr., and a competent roster on offense. He is the only player with major minutes on the Dubs to post a PER nearing or exceeding 20, and a Box Plus-Minus over 1.0.
Steph Curry's updated April stats: 40.7 points per game on 55-50-91 shooting splits in 10 games. He's 72-of-143 from 3.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 20, 2021
But right now, that is all Golden State needs. They are officially the most dangerous team in the West's play-in tournament as of right now, and if they make it out, the conference is wide open. Most of the other top squads in the conference are either injured, fragile, or very unproven. As fragile and delicate as he might seem, Steph Curry is one of the most battle-tested players in the NBA.
Rule of thumb: never bet against Steph Curry.
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