None of Stephen Curry's teammates or coaches showed any signs of concern for his shooting struggles, even prior to a Game 3 35-point explosion against the Houston Rockets that saw the two-time MVP regain much more than his shooting touch, but the signature on-court swagger that has made him such a star in the league.
“It's real, true confidence,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne after a rousing 126-85 win over the Rockets on Sunday. “I think a lot of guys would be sitting there for three days and get ornery with you guys [asking about his poor shooting]. But he's not. He handles it so well.”
Curry reflected the same confidence his coach had in him is the one he's had in himself the entire time.
“I always say you never lose confidence,” Curry said. “A lot of it was just talking to myself, almost like you've got to be your biggest fan sometimes.”
Warriors assistant coach Bruce Fraser is a constant during practice, in charge of running Curry through his shooting drills and routines at every practice and before every game.
Having made 38 straight threes during one of their shooting games, Fraser noticed that signature shooting touch right where he's seen most of the regular season.
“We were playing a shooting game and he shot it really well,” Fraser said. “So I said to him, ‘Looks like you're back.'
“He smiled and said, ‘I was never gone.'”
Curry didn't start Game 3 with the best accuracy, starting 1-of-6 from deep in the first quarter after having gone a miserable 2-of-13 during the first two games of the Western Conference Finals, but he made four of his last six shots from distance to finish 5-of-12 from deep.
“This guy is a two-time MVP, and he bounces back from bad games as well as anybody I've ever seen,” Kerr said. “So it didn't surprise me.”
Curry put up three straight games under 20 points during the 2016 NBA Finals, only to bounce back with fire on his fourth game, leading the way with 38 points. Historically, Curry has had huge bounce back games and Sunday was no exception.
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