Working the night shift on his 28th birthday, Stephen Curry dropped 27 points, five dimes and grabbed five rebounds in a dominant Warriors win. The Pellies kept the contest close for much of the first half, but Golden State caught fire during a 9-to-2 run that closed out the 2nd quarter, and exploded for another 35 points in the third to blow the game wide open. With the victory, the Dubs improved their record to a ridiculous 60-6.
1) Getting better with age: A look at the numbers shows that, generally, NBA players peak statistically around ages 25 to 26. Curry, who turned 28 last night, defies conventional logic. Somehow, despite every opposing defense honed in on stopping him, Curry has surpassed his gaudy stats from last season’s MVP campaign. He has increased his scoring by six points per game and improved his effective shooting-percentage to a career best 63.8%. Calls for him to win both MVP and Most Improved Player this year are not without merit. While most players begin a slow if seemingly imperceptible decline in their late 20s, Curry is letting the league know with every 30-foot bomb and every hesitation-blow-by that his career is still ascending. The journey to the peak should be a fun ride for Warriors fans.
2) Anthony Davis (22 points, 12 boards) was a game-low minus-30. It makes me unhappy to watch AD toil away on a team completely ravaged by injuries and risky front office moves. His starting point guard this game was Toney Douglas, someone who played in China last year, someone who gave me a heart attack each time he squared up for a 3-pointer for the Warriors in 2014. Their team cupboard is bereft of young and talented players (save for AD) and the players they do have are either perpetually injured (Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon) or can leave in free agency (Ryan Anderson and Gordon again). Too bad. AD should be in the playoffs every year for the fans’ sake; he’s too much fun to watch.
3) These Warriors are not your usual team. Leandro Barbosa faked AD and Luke Babbitt into the air, but instead of taking an open point-blank shot, he passes it to Curry who’s falling out of bounds and has a man jumping at him. Of course Steph catches and shoots in one motion and drains the three … and did all that in about 0.3 seconds.
4) After airballing a free throw in the first quarter, Andrew Bogut came back and sank a clutch three in the third. Okay, it wasn’t a clutch shot, but the clock was winding down and the bucket did extend the lead to 15. Bogut is now 3-24 on 3-pointers for his career.
5) With 531 made-threes, the Splash Brothers are on pace to obliterate the record of most made 3-pointers by teammates in a season (525), a mark they set last year.
6) Mo Speights and Bogut combined to shoot 2-of-3 from downtown, matching Harrison Barnes’ contributions from deep for the last nine games.
7) If Rush, Mo, Leandro and HB were all lined up at the 3-point line and you were playing defense and had to leave one guy open, who would you disregard? Is the question tougher than it should be?
8) Steve Kerr said James McAdoo was “the key guy off the bench” and his 11 points and 5 rebounds were great, but I’m ready to see me some Kevon Looney!
9) I love Fitz. Ryan Anderson is set to get paid $20 million+ this off season and I think Fitz said on the telecast that he could be the Pellies version of Mo Speights.
10) If you’re Alvin Gentry, there’s no way you regret taking the Pelicans head coaching position (the pay is nice and you get to coach Anthony Davis) but, at the same time, it wouldn’t be too bad to brush off some of the coaching responsibilities, move one seat down the bench, relax and be the highest-paid assistant coach in the league while watching these Warriors dominate.
Jim Barnett is pretty good on the tube, but I don’t like Fitz, much rather listen to Tim Roye and Tolbert.
I didn’t know Fitz was so polarizing among Ws fans. I didn’t mean #9 literally, I meant it incredulously. Anderson is going to have multiple teams after him this summer with giant offer sheets, Mo is a decent backup in an advantageous situation. Comparing the two was unexpected. That said, I think Fitz does a good enough job on TV. There are better play-by-play guys out there for sure, but there are also worse. He’s stopped resetting the lineup every 5 minutes this season so I have no major complaints.
Can’t remember a player in a contract year that played as passively as HB does … 6 points in 31 minutes and you are seeking $16M+ next year???
It’s probably safe to say he’s going to get $20+. He’s in a scoring slump now, but he’s a young wing with a track record of hitting from threes, and he can effectively defend 2 through 4 (and 1s and 5s in a pinch). And the argument goes, maybe on another team he can further spread his wings as a number 2 or 3 option. I wouldn’t take that bet but there are a lot of teams with money who will.
I think your the only person who loves Fitz. You must have gone to Notre Dame like him. he never shuts up about it.