Examining Stephen Curry Golden State Warriors playing by Chris Filios

The Stephen Curry Golden State Warriors went 2-1 this past week with wins over the Denver Nuggets & Portland Trail Blazers but had a tough loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in which they blew a 24 point lead in the second half only to lose in overtime.

While watching the 2nd half collapse to the Grizzlies, 2 things stood out about the Stephen Curry Golden State Warriors:

1. They struggled defensively to get stops. The defense got soft. They had trouble protecting the paint, they gave up a lot of open, uncontested jump shots, and they did a poor job of gang rebounding against Memphis’ size.
2. They struggled to score because of poor shot selection and carelessness with the basketball.

I want to focus on the offensive woes late in the game. While there is no doubt the Dubs are a prolific offensive team, they can have long stretches where they struggle to score. During these stretches, the ball stops moving, there is over dribbling, there is a lot of standing and watching guys go one vs. 1, there is poor spacing, and there is a poor shot selection. Instead of attacking the rim to score or kick out to open shooters, a tendency to settle for contested jumpers takes over. While all these things contribute to the offensive struggles, one thing stood out to me: it was Steph Curry’s efficiency on the offensive end of the floor. As the primary PG and a key scoring contributor, he sets the table for what happens on the offensive end of the floor- the tempo/flow, what they are running, dictating shot selection a lot of the time, etc.

Going back and breaking down the Warriors last three games this week- specifically Steph Curry’s offensive efficiency, I found that the numbers were staggeringly different when the ball moved in the half court versus when it did not.

When Steph Curry comes across half court and shot (or TO) without making a pass:

11-32 (34%) 0.84 Points per Possession 7 Turnovers

When Steph Curry comes across half court and passes and moves without the ball before taking a shot:

24-36 (67%) 1.64 Points per Possession

Don’t get me wrong, Steph played well this past week. He had games of:

FG-FGA 3’s FT’s
Vs. Nuggets: 8-18 3-9 3-3 18 points 5 assists
Vs Trail Blazers: 12-25 5-13 6-8 35 points 5 assists
Vs. Grizzlies: 15-27 5-13 5-5 40 points 6 assists

But was he as efficient as he could have been?
I think that we would all agree with the statement that it is harder to guard and easier to get quality shots when there are ball and player movement…and this is evidence of this declaration. What this shows is that Curry is two times more efficient when he moves without the ball. He is harder to guard and gets higher quality shots. I don’t deny that it is fun and exciting to watch him come down and pull up from long range. I don’t deny that it makes for a real highlight when he dribbles through/around defenders only to hit an awkward shot. It makes Steph who he is, and it makes the Warriors who they are and what people love about them. While this has not cost them many games over the past two years, it was one major problem in the Finals vs. the Cavs last year. While it may not hurt them much during the regular season again this year, will this be something that will come back to bite the Warriors and Curry again this year in the playoffs? The margin of victory is fragile, and teams need to do everything possible in every phase of the game to give them the best possible of a chance of winning. The Warriors are talented, probably the most talented team in the NBA…but they have deficiencies just like everyone else.

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Examining Stephen Curry Golden State Warriors playing by Chris Filios