Only a couple weeks after one of the biggest heaters of his career, Steph Curry is suddenly cold.
Before the All-Star break, Curry became the first player in NBA history to make at least seven 3-pointers in four consecutive games. Then he put on an unbelievable display of shooting against Sabrina Ionescu during All-Star weekend and came out of the break firing against the Lakers. But for the past three games, Curry is shooting 31.5% overall and 21.6% from behind the arc.
Even the greatest shooter of all time goes through cold spells like this. This minuscule three-game sample size isn’t unprecedented even for him. But everything for the Warriors starts and ends with Curry, so the Warriors need to get him back on track fast. He has an excellent opportunity to return to form in one of his favorite places to play: Madison Square Garden.
The Warriors head to Manhattan to play the Knicks tonight after beating the lowly Wizards Tuesday despite a dismal night from Curry. The two-time MVP went scoreless in the first half and finished 6-for-21 overall. For stretches in the fourth quarter, it looked like he took shots with the goal of rediscovering any sort of rhythm.
Earlier this week, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he thinks Curry is fatigued.
“This is all part of the season,” Kerr said. “Every player goes through it, you know, just feeling a little fatigued, a little heavy-legged. He’ll get it back, and if we have to give him a game to help him do that, then we’ll do that.”
Curry wouldn’t be the first player to experience some post-All-Star malaise. And without a reliable second scorer to take the load off him, he’s had to put the Warriors on his back often. There would be no shame in needing a night off in a league in which superstars in recent years frequently manage their load. But Curry insisted that he’s not tired.
“You miss shots,” Curry said Sunday. “It’s one of those things — that’s why they’re called averages. You got the highs and lows of it. That standard that you set, when you don’t meet it, it gets questioned. Just keep shooting. It’s part of the nature of being available and playing every game. You never lose confidence.”
Yet that was before Tuesday night, when Curry sank just four of his 16 3-pointers. That performance followed 1-for-10 and 3-for-11 nights. In his 15-year career, Curry has only had three stretches of three games shooting that poorly.
He’ll look to break the streak against the Knicks, who have impressed this year but are missing starters OG Anunoby and Julius Randle. Madison Square Garden has been one of the most memorable arenas of Curry’s career.
In 2013, Curry broke onto the national stage with a 54-point explosion at the mecca of basketball. He played all 48 minutes and went 11-for-13, outscoring the rest of his teammates.
In 2021, he broke Ray Allen’s all-time record for career 3-pointers in front of Allen and Reggie Miller in MSG.
Curry has played 10 games in Madison Square Garden since his rookie year, when he only logged three minutes. In those 10 games, he’s averaging 28.1 points per game on a ludicrous 49% from deep.
If Curry can’t get going in that kind of environment, where the adrenaline will be pumping and the history of the building omnipresent, he could risk entering uncharted territory for him. And with the Warriors pushing to escape the play-in round, they can’t afford for his slump to persist much longer.
