Stephen Curry’s got a pretty simple offensive decision-making process
While watching Stephen Curry do the voodoo that he does so well — which, on Wednesday night, included the incineration of the Dallas Mavericks’ defense to the tune of a season-high 51 points, with 26 coming in a third quarter that somehow isn’t the most impressive frame that a Golden State Warriors guard’s had in the last two weeks — I often find myself wondering what he’s thinking. Like, when he’s in that sort of rhythm and flow in the midst of NBA action — especially when he’s trying to bring his team back from a big deficit, when, as head coach Steve Kerr put it, “he just senses he has to put the Superman cape on” — what’s going through Steph’s mind?
The answer, as it turns out, might be nothing.
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During a wide-ranging interview with Graham Bensinger that will air on the host’s syndicated sports show, “In Depth with Graham Bensinger,” this weekend, the leading vote-getter for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game discusses a variety of topics — how he decided to turn pro and get married at age 23, the experience of becoming an NBA All-Star and a FIBA World Cup champion, the Warrors’ controversial decision to fire Mark Jackson and more — Curry explained the incredibly detailed decision-making flowchart he runs through on offensive possessions when he’s feeling it.
“Just pull the trigger,” Curry said with a laugh. “There’s no real deep thought process when it comes to that. I have a lot of confidence that I can make any shot on the floor, and when you’re in rhythm and you feel like you’re open, you’ve just got to rely on that muscle memory to take over and just pull the trigger and shoot it.
“That’s kind of — if you think too much about it, I think you [do yourself] a disservice,” he continued. “Because then you start to break down your mechanics, overthink the situation. You’ve kind of got to be free on the court, and even, regardless of whether you’re four or five feet beyond the 3-point line, if you feel like it’s a good shot — which is a momentary, just, reaction or a thought — then just do it.”
It’s kind of amazing that Curry and J.R. Smith — two players who are perceived in drastically different ways by the public — have pretty much the same general operating principle on offense. Of course, that’s a bit easier to swallow coming from Curry, a career 47/43/90 shooter, than from J.R. (42/37/74). Still, it’s fun to think of Steph and J.R., who are now the only two players in league history with multiple 10-or-more 3-pointer performances, as flip sides of the same inveterate-gunning coin.
Curry has certainly put in the work over the years — starting with a summertime revamping of his jumper that he and his father, 16-year NBA sniper Dell Curry, overhauled early in Steph’s high-school career — to build the seemingly unerring rapid-fire release that has made him the NBA’s single-season 3-point kingpin and the fastest player ever to 1,000 made triples. Through 5 1/2 NBA seasons, Curry stands as the all-time leader in 3-point accuracy among active players (and fourth overall) and — when you factor in his accuracy, his workload and the reality that he hasn’t snuck up on anyone in a good long while — arguably the greatest shooter the game’s ever seen.
“The jump shot is [Curry’s] weapon of choice and everyone in the building knows that he’s looking for the slimmest of openings to pull the trigger,” wrote Ian Levy in an excellent pre-51-explosion piece at The Cauldron. “Each night, opposing defenses operate with the knowledge that Curry will be running the Warriors’ offense, trying to do everything in their power to chase him off the three-point line. Still, Curry ensures that defenses fail, spectacularly, over and over again.”
And yet, as accomplished as Curry’s become at dismantling defenses, there’s still one opponent he struggles to take down — his old man.
“He always says, ‘You’re only as good as your last game,’ and he won the last H-O-R-S-E game,” Curry said. “So he has the crown right now.”
Look on the bright side, Steph: If you’re only as good as your last game, well, then you’re pretty damn good. No need to overthink that one.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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