Curry looks to continue hot shooting streak

Warriors are No. 2 in West with 23 games remaining

Stephen Curry has fallen out of the MVP conversation, but he secured at least one trophy for his cabinet over the weekend in Cleveland. Now, the only MVP trophy Curry needs to complete his trifecta is from the Finals.

To get there, the Warriors might need a classic Curry conflagration. It might not get him back in the conversation for Maurice Podoloff's statue, but the Warriors enter the final stretch of their season depleted and holding a slim lead on the No. 2 seed. With Klay Thompson still getting back to full strength and Draymond Green out for at least the next few weeks, can Curry carry the Warriors across the finish line (and, heck, maybe avoid his first season shooting below 40% from the behind the arc while he's at it)?

After dropping 50 points Sunday night in the AllStar Game — stealing the show with a record-smashing 16 3-pointers — Curry reminded reporters gathered in Cleveland where the Warriors stand as they enter the final stage of the regular season.

“We've had a lot of injuries, and we haven't been whole in a very long time,” Curry said. “When Klay came back, Draymond was out the same night. Still waiting on the three of us to take the floor again.”

It has been 21 games since Thompson came back and Green departed, overlapping for only a ceremonial seven seconds. There remains no date set to expect all three to share the court together again. Could Curry's magnificent showing Sunday night ignite the hot streak the Warriors need until they are whole again?

Curry's 34.8 minutes per game this season are his most in eight years, he has played in 54 of Golden State's 59 games, and he is on pace to launch more shots than any previous season. But on Sunday night, Curry sat beside his All-Star MVP trophy speaking with a vigor for the stretch run to come.

“It's all kind of shaping up to try to peak at the right time,” Curry said. “To be in that conversation again after last two years that we've had, I'm pretty rejuvenated and excited to be back in that atmosphere.”

Curry's midseason slump was the worst of his career, no doubt, but hitting a skid isn't out of the ordinary. It's common for Curry's shot to hit a snag leading up to the All-Star break. Just as often, Curry heats up after the time off.

Can we officially put the slump to sleep? According to Curry's thinking, there was never one to begin with — just all part of a long season.

“There's not really a `past this.' It's just keep shooting. That's just how I approach it,” Curry said earlier this month. “It's not like when you're hot and shooting 60% from 3, it's never like that's going to last. And whenever you dip, it's not gonna last forever . ... never really felt bad. It just didn't really go in. There are certain tweaks and all that, but if it feels bad, then you don't shoot.”

Curry has had recent hot games that prove his shot wasn't broken — three 30-point performances in his final eight games before the All-Star break: 7-of-14 from distance in one, 8-for-13 in another — but has also been plagued by inconsistent results. Even over those final eight games, starting with his 40-point outing at Houston, Curry's hit rate from 3 would be a career-low: 39.8%.

Curry enters the Warriors' final 23 games on pace for the worst shooting season of his career — a year defined by his pursuit of the 3-point record — by a pretty wide margin, too. He has never shot worse than 41.1% from distance over the course of a full season and sits at 37.9% coming out of the All-Star break (sorry, Steph, the 16-for-27 on Sunday doesn't count).

So, what would it take to at least get him over the 40% mark? Curry is taking 12.3 3-pointers per game this season. That averages out to about 283 remaining 3-point attempts over the final 23 games. He would have to hit them at a clip of 45% to get there at that pace — which would also result in the second-most 3s made in any season in NBA history (378, falling short of his own record of 402).

That's hardly a difficult feat to imagine for the greatest 3-point assassin the world has ever seen — he's made 3s at that clip twice over the course of a full season. But it would take a step up from even clip that garnered him MVP chants at nearly every arena he visited early this season, before the skid.

Curry's best two All-Star showings have come the past two years. As an eight-timer, he understands the ins and outs of All-Star weekend now, he explained, and set his sights on the MVP trophy, an honor he'd never taken home before.

“You understand the nuances of the game and how different guys approach it. Guys get hot and they put on a show,” he said. “Once I kind of knew I was feeling it, you kind of wanted to ride that wave and see how it ended up.”

Last season, Curry dropped 28 in the All-Star Game — modest in comparison to this year but then a personal best — then got red-hot down the stretch, upping his scoring average to 34.9 per game after the break and leading the Warriors to 15 wins in their final 21 games.

WORTH NOTING >> Curry has only been able to benefit from the added spacing Thompson provides without Green's ability to find either star guard with a pass. Without Green, Curry has taken on more of a playmaking role offensively and added to his workload defensively. His 6.8 assists per game since Green's injury would rank as his most in seven seasons.

Curry offered a reminder Sunday night of what he can do when he isn't shackled to a facilitating role on offense and tied down by defensive responsibilities. However, as long as Green remains out, Curry will likely have to expend extra effort on both sides of the basketball.