OAKLAND — Stephen Curry denies there is anything to it. After his 5-of-23 shooting performance (1-of-9 on uncontested looks) in Game 2 — the worst by a reigning MVP in a quarter century — he said he was off, but denied there was anything physical or that this had lasted a while
“No, just tonight,” Curry said of feeling his shot was off. “Shots I normally make I knew as soon as they left my hand that they were off. That doesn’t usually happen. I mean, mechanically I don’t know if there is an explanation for it, just didn’t have a rhythm and didn’t find one the whole game.”
But it hasn’t been just one game.
Ever since his nasty fall in Game 4 against the Rockets, Curry has not been quite the same. The Big lead crunched the numbers since the tumble:
3-Point shooting: 10-of-36, 27%
For the record, he shot 48 percent overall and 44 percent from three in the regular season.
Now come the list of qualifiers: We are talking a very small sample size, he could just be cold shooting. These games have come against good defensive teams in Houston and Cleveland (Matthew Dellavedova played him well in Game 2), and teams that have focused on slowing him. And he not only was cleared by doctors to return to that game, Curry had an interminably long break between the close out over Houston and the start of the Finals, a lot of time in there to get healthy.
Maybe it’s a coincidence. But it is interesting.
We will see how Curry is shooting come Game 3 in Cleveland, especially after coach Steve Kerr makes some tweaks to get him better looks.