Steph reiterates importance to Dubs’ offense as sequel to 62 originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Steph Curry‘s encore to the most prolific night of his career consisted of a near triple-double Monday in a blowout victory over the Kings.
Curry scored 30 points (on 9-of-18 shooting) alongside nine rebounds and eight assists in the Warriors‘ wire-to-wire 137-106 win at Chase Center, resting for the entirety of the fourth quarter.
It wasn’t 62, but it was what the Warriors needed Monday.
“It’s gonna look different every night depending on how the defense guards me, and it’s just about making the right decision,” Curry told reporters on a video conference call Monday. “You can always go rogue and try to force up shots, but yesterday there were clear lanes to attack and I did. Tonight, there weren’t really clear lanes, but I could draw a crowd, get it moving and I could move without the ball.”
The Warriors never relinquished a lead against the Kings, jumping out to a 17-point edge in the first quarter. Curry, as usual, played every second, scoring 11 points and dishing out three assists.
Four of the point guard’s six first-quarter field-goal attempts came off the Warriors’ rebounds or forced turnovers. Golden State grabbed 13 rebounds and scored 10 points off seven Sacramento turnovers in the opening 12 minutes. For the second straight night, the Warriors’ defense laid the foundation for the fireworks that followed.
“He got free a little bit in that first quarter, and set a really good tone, as did our whole team with the defense,” Kerr said. “And that’s gonna be the key going forward.”
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The Warriors now have won four of their last five games following an 0-2 start, and Curry has scored at least 30 points during each of those wins. Since Christmas, the two-time NBA MVP is averaging 37.0 points per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the field, 42.2 percent from 3-point range and 97.9 percent from the free-throw line. Only James Harden (33.0 points per game) has a higher scoring average than Curry (32.0) at this point in the season.
Curry credited Draymond Green’s recent return for the Warriors’ rapidly emerging offense, and the veterans’ fit with one another has been a noticeable driver of that improvement. Green, in his ninth season as Curry’s teammate, didn’t quite see it that way.
“Steph is the flow,” Green said. “He creates the flow. And so when he’s playing the way he’s playing the last two nights, it allows everyone else to get into a flow. I disagree a little bit with [the idea] he needs the offense to be flowing for him. He creates the flow for us, and the rest of us are able to fill in and do our jobs.”
