Matt Steinmetz

Slowly but surely the Warriors are getting back to being the Warriors. And it looks like Stephen Curry is getting back to be Stephen Curry.

The Warriors rebounded from an awful start and wound up blowing out the Milwaukee Bucks 117-92 on Saturday night at Oracle Arena. The Warriors have now won three consecutive games — after they had lost 5 of 7, their worst stretch of basketball in the Steve Kerr era.

LINK TO “WARRIORS WRAPUP,” THE POSTGAME SHOW ON 95.7-FM.

The Warriors (55-14) are now 2.5 games ahead of the San Antonio Spurs, who lost to Memphis, in the battle for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

Curry had been shooting 26 percent from 3-point range in his past nine games. But he made 6-of-8 from beyond the arc against the Bucks, scoring 28 points in just 30 minutes. The Warriors got off to a bad start, falling behind 25-11 midway through the first quarter, but rectified that in a hurry with some terrific offense. Golden State shot 60 percent from the field, including 12-for-23 from 3-point range.

After a brutal travel stretch in which they played eight games in eight different cities, the Warriors have gotten well at hoe with wins over Philly, Orlando and Milwaukee. Now, they head back on the road for a back-to-back set against Oklahoma City and Dallas.

The Warriors got contributions from a lot of players, most notably Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green. Iguodala continued his inspired play of late, scoring 15 points on 6-for-10 from the field. Green had eight points, eight rebounds and 10 assists.

Green also did a terrific defensive job on Giannis Antetokounmpo, who entered the game averaging 23 points per game. Antetokounmpo had just nine points on 4-for-14 from the floor and never got comfortable.

On the “NBA This Week” the main topic was the Golden State Warriors and whether they’re out of their funk or not. While their 30-point win over the Orlando Magic on Thursday was just what the doctor ordered, it was still Orlando and you don’t wan to draw too many conclusions from a win over a team like that.

The Warriors (54-14) have now won two in a row after losing 5 of 7 games, which represented the worst stretch of basketball in the Steve Kerr era.

Joining the show this week were Rick Kamla of NBATV; Derek Harper, Mavericks television color analyst; and the Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps. Kamla had some interesting opinions, including the one where he said the Spurs are going to edge the Warriors out for the No. 1 seed.

LINK TO INTERVIEW WITH RICK KAMLA.

LINK TO INTERVIEW WITH DEREK HARPER.

LINK TO INTERVIEW WITH TIM BONTEMPS.

Harper was one of the toughest point guards of his generation, and he was very insightful about the game today and how it compares to his time in the NBA. Remember, Harper came into the league when it was Larry Bird and Magic Johnson’s league and played through the Michael Jordan era. So he knows a little something.

Bontemps conducted an MVP straw poll, soliciting opinions from 150 media people. Who is this year’s MVP: Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James? Anyone else in the mix?

The other day, my colleague Damon Bruce asked me to come up with the five statistics that best tell the story of Stephen Curry. Here’s what I came up with — the numbers that help explain exactly who Curry is as a player:

–.436 from 3-point range for career: Despite a down year for Curry from beyond the arc (down for him, anyway), he’s still the fourth-most accurate 3-point shooter in NBA history. Heading into this season, only Steve Kerr shot the ball better from beyond the arc, but start to think about the difference between Curry and Kerr. Curry is a two-time MVP; Kerr was a role player. The point here is that nobody in the history of the game has shot the ball so well, so frequently, from so far out. Curry’s ability to play the game outside-in is his foundation, and it sets up every other aspect of his game. You can’t tell the story of Curry without first considering his greatness from 3-point range.

LINK: “WARRIORS WRAPUP” FROM GOLDEN STATE’S 122-92 WIN OVER ORLANDO.

–2.14-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio: For the most part, Curry’s assist-to-turnover ratio has stayed the same over the course of his career. He’s had troubling years with his assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7-to-1 in 2010-11) and better years (2.48-to-1 in 2014-15). But his career assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.14-to-1. That’s not awful by any stretch unless you’re asking Curry to be a true point guard. For your basic, run-of-the-mill point guard Curry’s assist-to-turnover ratio really isn’t good enough. But we also know Curry isn’t run of the mill. He’s an extraordinary shooter and that more than makes up for a little bit of sloppiness and carelessness. Curry’s never really taken that next step — into the Steve Nash category, for example. Would it be nice if Curry assisted more and turned it over less? Yes, but don’t expect it to get better if it hasn’t by now.

Continue reading →