We tend to think of Stephen Curry as a saintly man, a family man who regularly does good deeds for the public, as he does for warriors while basking in the cozy cradle of inner peace.
It’s never easy, though, and it’s becoming clear that the most brutal twist of this maddening season — the wild ups and downs between the team’s performances at home and on the road — is fracturing his gut.
Curry would never lose his confidence; He’s done a lot and won a lot. But his 50 points on Wednesday night couldn’t prevent a 134-126 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, which left the Warriors with a 7-27 road record.
With 70 games down and only 12 remaining, Curry’s confidence may be slightly shaken, but his swagger is taking a beating from reality.
Asked by reporters at the Crypto.com Arena what can be done for the defending champions to match their disappointing play on the road with their impressive work at the Chase Center, where they are 29-7, Curry Stopped for a moment.
“It’s like the ultimate tease,” he said. “We’re good enough to beat anybody at home. And we’ve had some self-inflicted injuries on the road, but we’ve played well enough too. . . “
The Warriors played better at times on Wednesday night, posting better shooting efficiency and staying closer mostly because Curry was so exciting. They were undone by four other regions. LA had a 32–15 advantage in free throws, a 20–11 advantage in points off turnovers, a 27–11 advantage in second-chance points, and a 14–6 advantage on the glass in the fourth quarter.
All this put the warriors back in the dungeon from which they could not escape. Where are the solutions?
“Tough question, just because you’re trying,” Curry said. “We’re doing everything we can (fix it). We’re conscious of it. Work hard. Center. If you don’t do it, you lose.
“We have to keep trying until we have the Games over to solve it. It’s the nature of the game, fluctuating from year to year, finding what it takes to win at the highest level. We have identified those things. We haven’t been able to do that yet.
It was Curry’s second 50-point game this season, and the Warriors lost both. His performance in the third quarter, 12 spectacular minutes during which he scored 21 points – including 12 consecutive in less than two minutes – left his teammates feeling relatively inadequate.
“It sucks,” Draymond Green said of Curry’s performance being wasted in the loss. “You just sit and think what else could I have done to help her? When you let a guy go like this, you need to find a way to capitalize on it. We didn’t do that.
Curry is not one to point fingers at people. He is not one to question the coach. After not shooting a free throw until 7:22, Steph wouldn’t even deliver a G-rated version of an expletive-less rant about Fred VanVleet’s poor performance.
That doesn’t mean he wasn’t feeling the same excitement as his teammates.
“We were a little disappointed; Nobody likes to lose,” said Kevon Looney. “We think we competed well enough to win, but you know what? , , Description. We still have a lot of work to do.”
That has been the story of this season, which turns five on Saturday. Until this season, shooting 55.7 percent in a game usually meant success. On this night, it was a footnote in an eight-point loss for a team tied with the Warriors in the Western Conference standings.
Until this season, a 50-point game from Curry usually meant a win. The Warriors were 8–2 in such games. In this weather? Try 0-2.
“It’s nice to play well and shoot well,” Curry said. “That’s what I hope to do every night, no matter what the stat sheet looks like. It’s frustrating when we can’t get out of the hump and figure out a way to win, especially Where we’ve been on the road all season.
“Our job is just to keep playing and keep competing at a high level and just trying to figure it out. Whatever I have to do personally in the process, I’m just going to keep doing it.”
That’s Steph, who sets his eyes on the same goal every season. keep playing. Keep getting buckets and sweating even when the results make a mockery of everything you work for and represent.
It might seem like the one factor keeping Curry grounded, his impeccable overall approach, is somehow powerful enough to shield him from the weaknesses that plague the rest. not true. He feels the weight of failure just like us. As much as it bothers her, some try to steal her joy by leaving scars, with no sign of emotional surrender.
This season is troubling the Warriors and could break them. Sure it’s freaking Steph out, but there’s no chance it’s going to break her.