San Francisco – This is this time of year.
When the regular season ends and the victories and losses become the difference between the advantage of the court at home and a trip to the dreaded game tournament, Steph Curry obtains this “look”.
“You can see the look in his eyes,” said Draymond Green. “Some of these photos he takes, he just tries to wait until everyone clears up so that he can get a hit. I can see him at a distance.”
This “look” was fully exposed during his 36-point night at the Chase Center during the victory of the Warriors 118-104 against the Nuggets on Friday evening, a victory that gave the Warriors five consecutive victories.
This radiance shooting show occurred in the heels of 37-point lighting in Los Angeles, and a 52-point masterpiece in Memphis on Tuesday.
This gave him an average of 42 points per match in April, against only 23 ppg (in 12 games) in March, and well above his 24.8 points per game this season.
This type of hike in spring production – although not quite at this degree – is not new for Curry.
It is the product of an intensity that comes out in the spring, a seriousness that emerges from the leader. It manifests itself in telephone calls with teammates, where curry is obsessed with the smallest details and tactics looking for very slight advantage that it can find.
“It is obviously very difficult to have a sustained level of intensity for 82 games,” said Curry. “But the feeling of urgency in the section, the feeling that you are in the standings is important, each game is important, the idea of the idea that we gain in this particular game because a little more important.”
Coach Steve Kerr and team doctor Rick Celebrini had a concept for Curry to sit on Friday evening, having just played on Thursday and leaving an exhausting road trip of six games.
Curry also was breastfeeding a persistent coccyx injury, so making it sit on the second night on a back would have been logical.
The man with the hottest hand in basketball had nothing.
“Rick and Steve were quite proactive in these conversations,” said Curry. “We all talked about it this morning, and (I) was in a way (given) the full green light.”
Curry, wearing protective equipment to protect his bruised coccyx, tore Denver with gunshots from all over the field.
He ran around the screens, floated in the lane for tears and buried three deep which were sometimes followed by a shimmy or a look.
“He looked so fast there tonight,” said Kerr about his 37-year-old star. “I think that the most underestimated part of his game is perhaps his packaging. Just incredible what he does there, especially given the attention he attracts defensively, the pressure of people. He manages him just night after night and flourishes.”
Curry will try to continue his hot shooting against the Rockets, the second seeded of the conference and their defense which allows 109.1 points per game, the fifth more of the league. Houston is also fourth in defensive note.
But after having burned three teams of playoffs – in three different cities in four nights – it is clear that Curry plays at a level he can reach.
“For our team, it’s great because we are heading for the playoffs, and he finds this rhythm,” said Curry. “For other teams, it’s horrible.”
California Daily Newspapers
