There has always been some craziness baked into the Stephen Curry experience. The Golden State Warriors superstar is a race car balancing the line between fast and loose, and when he gets too loose, as with everything else he does, the team tends to follow.
The Warriors are no longer undefeated. They lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 104-101 in overtime Thursday night, thanks in large part to their 23 turnovers, which led to 23 Memphis points. Cut even a few of those off, and this game, which was once a 19-point lead in favor of the Warriors, likely doesn’t even reach overtime.
But this is the way of the Warriors. The hand that feeds them is also the one that bites them. They are who they are because they force the issue, thread backdoor passes, push the pace, all of which empowers everyone on the court to play confidently and with the freedom that comes with knowing you’re not gong to get yanked for a mistake. This is what makes them dangerous. They’re a wild animal.
With the Warriors, there is no such thing as the point guard being the level head of the group, the guy who settles everyone else down. Curry is the one starting most of the fires, the guy whose mom has been known to charge him a hundred bucks for every turnover. If that deal is still in place, Steph owes Sonja $500 after Thursday night. Through five games, he has 22 turnovers.
The thing is, Curry is great enough to overcome his own occasional harebrained play. Despite his aforementioned five giveaways and a 7-for-20 shooting night from 3, the Warriors still won the 41 minutes he was on the court by 12 points. He finished with 36 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Even when he’s shooting poorly (by his standards) and turning the ball over willy nilly, his gravity alone makes the Warriors a nightmare to defend.
Nobody else has that kind of leeway. And so the next thing you know, Jordan Poole is playing like he’s Curry, only he’s not, and six turnovers later you wonder if he might want to check himself. Draymond Green is tasked with anticipating all the Warriors movement as the half-court trigger man, and his willingness to pull that trigger with a moment’s hesitation is crucial to Curry getting open looks while the entire defense has GPS on his whereabouts. Some turnovers are factored into that job description, but where is the line?
Against the Grizzlies, Green got an eight-second count for walking the ball up the court with nary a care in the world. You can accept turnovers of aggression, I suppose, but the Warriors go beyond that. When they get sloppy, they turn into a basketball circus.
One one hand, this might sound like nitpicking for a team that has started the season 4-1 without Klay Thompson. I don’t totally disagree. The fact that Curry is shooting well below his averages makes it even more impressive they’ve gotten out to this start despite these turnover issues. Through Thursday, the Warriors have committed 83 turnovers, which is fifth most in the league, but the four teams who’ve committed more are a combined 4-16. The Warriors are still finding ways to win.
That said, let’s really examine these victories. After beating the Lakers (who have looked terrible to start the season) on opening night, the Warriors have beaten the Clippers (minus Kawhi Leonard and Serge Ibaka), Kings and Thunder, and the truth is, they easily could have lost all three of those games. They blew 19-point leads to both the Clippers and Grizzlies.
This is not a team with much collective leeway. They have more shooting and depth than last season, and Green is playing with the two-way fire of his prime. But at the end of the day, the Warriors still need Curry to go nuclear to beat good teams. That’s how they beat the Clippers. He went for 45 on 8 of 13 from 3. He hasn’t shot well in the other wins, but again, how much stock are you going to put in beating the Kings (which required their one responsible game of the season with just seven turnovers) and Thunder?
Believe it or not, Curry has now failed to score a single point in his past three fourth quarters. He is 0 for 11 from the field over that span. That is just too much to overcome against even halfway decent teams, which the Grizzlies qualify as, when you’re losing so many possessions to flat-out carelessness. Again, turnovers are part of the Curry deal, and the overall Warriors equation, but there has to be a line. And right now, the Warriors are blowing past it.
