Golden State Warriors have been smashing the competition for the last 4 years. They have won 3 titles in the last 4 years and when you’re at the top of the mountain there is no more going up, it’s just going down, or at least you try to stay there as much as possible. For the most part they have stayed on top and that had many franchises across the league worried. They have not only managed to stay on top, but also dominate their way up to the NBA Finals. Many NBA fans remember the 73 – 9 season, which ironically is the only Finals they lost in the span of 4 years. A team that has Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, we’re talking about superstars, NBA MVPs, defensive and offensive monsters that can play like a well-oiled machine.
At least that was the story up until now, the 2018-2019 season. They started the season furiously, defeating teams with ease and it seemed like this season would be just like the last few seasons, but on November 9th Steph Curry got injured playing against the Milwaukee Bucks, a game which Golden State Warriors lost. Before that game they had a record of 10 wins and only 1 loss, with that loss coming from Denver Nuggets, which is turning out to be a great team this season. But after the injury of Steph Curry, everyone thought that the Warriors would be just fine. To the surprise of everyone, the opposite happened, in the next 12 games they would win only 5 games and lose 7. Yes, you read that correctly, it’s understandable that they lost the games also due to a Draymond Green injury, that has kept him sidelined since November 15. However, a team that has Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, Andre Igoudala, should win more than 5 games out of 12. Now they are ranked 4th in the Western Conference, with 16 wins and 9 losses.
It’s obvious that Draymond Green is important to the team because of his defense and hustle, but now let’s talk about the importance of Steph Curry. In the first 12 games with Steph on the team, time of possession has been 18.7 minutes (3rd) in the league and the last 11 games without him, it has been 20.1 minutes (16th). This comes as a direct result of Curry’s court vision and his ability to draw 2 and sometimes 3 defenders to him. So, he can initiate a fast break that can go in many ways, him driving to the basket and scoring a layup, passing to a free player or you can see him pulling up from the 3-point line, sometimes even further that and get quick points. Without his presence, the offense looks slow and many times it ends up with Kevin Durant bringing the ball to the half court line and they seem lost without the guidance of Steph. If you want to know just how good Steph is from the 3-point line, after he got injured he had 62, 3-pointers made, it took Kemba Walker 4 games and 10 days just to pass him.
The effect that Curry has on the team doesn’t come from the numbers that he puts up personally, it also comes from the fact that he makes his teammates better. This can be proven by looking at Kevin Durant’s 3-point shooting. When Stephen Curry is on the floor, KD makes 40% of his shots from three, but with him off the floor, he is shooting an abysmal 29% from three. While his impact on offense is definitely vital for the team, we can’t also forget his defensive play. People rarely notice his defense, he has very quick hands and can steal the ball while also he knows how to guard players regardless of their size. He can cover for his teammates and at the same time he understands spacing and also angles. His presence has been sorely missed and ever since he came back, Dubs have started playing more as a cohesive unit rather than a squad with no general on the floor. On his two games that he came back, Golden State lost the first game and won the 2nd game. The first loss came from Detroit Pistons, and still Curry had 27 points on his return, while against the Hawks he scored 30 points and shot 60% from 3-point line. The best thing is that the trio of Curry, Durant and Thompson had 85 points, if that doesn’t show you what he is capable of doing on the floor I don’t know what will. We can expect more performances like this in the near future. In conclusion, the entire franchise of Golden State Warriors need to pray that he doesn’t get injured again or they are doomed and headed to another losing streak or an early exit from playoff.