Transcendent Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry hasn’t quite looked like himself so far this NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Curry has largely been a footnote in the first 3 games of the series, however in games one and two, other Golden State players stepped up and covered Curry.
But, in game three, the rest of the Warriors struggled as well and the team lost 120-90 in a lopsided affair.
Focus on the plus/minus of GSW's centers, sure, but Curry has been awful. Stunningly so.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 9, 2016
For the third game in a row, Stephen Curry was held largely in check and couldn’t make any kind of meaningful impact. His series averages were brought to 16 PPG, 5 RPG, 4.3 APG, less than one steal and 5 TO’s while shooting 43 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. These numbers are extremely down from his season averages of 30.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 6.7 APG, 2.1 SPG and only 3.3 TO’s.
The Cavaliers swarming defense has to be a large part of the reason why Curry has struggled so mightily.
The @cavs blanketed @StephenCurry30 with their defense by committee last night in game 3.#NBAFInalshttps://t.co/NOESGv5H5e
— Pure Sweat (@PureSweat) June 9, 2016
Stephen Curry didn’t try and cover up his shortcomings in the series and was very open about what he needs to improve on.
.@StephenCurry30 on what went wrong: pic.twitter.com/H2uPMsAqTz
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) June 9, 2016
Stephen Curry said the most frustrating parts of his recent struggles have been:
1) getting into foul trouble
2) lack of aggressiveness— Rosalyn Gold-Onwude (@ROSGO21) June 9, 2016
The rest of the Warriors are not without blame however, as Curry’s backcourt companion and fellow splash brother Klay Thompson has also been largely MIA. Through the first three games, Curry and Thompson have combined for 84 points, while their lowest three game combined point total in the regular season was 120. Draymond Green also struggled on the offensive side on the ball in game three.
The 35 points scored by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green is the trio's lowest in any game since 2014. pic.twitter.com/sZWQnewZca
— ESPN (@espn) June 9, 2016
The Warriors trio will need to perform at much higher level if LeBron James and the Cavs are going to play the way they did in game three, lest they let Cavaliers tie the series 2-2 and make it a best of three affair.
Stephen Curry was the first ever unanimous MVP in league history and often played the game in ways that had never been seen before. So to assume that this stretch of bad form will continue may not be advised for Warriors fans. If nothing else, it appears Curry still has the ultimate goal in his sights and isn’t letting his poor play get him down.
Stephen Curry when asked to assess his #NBAFinals performance: "We're 2-1. We're up 2-1 right now…& the story is still unfolding."
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) June 9, 2016
Game four takes place at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Friday night at 6 PM PT.