Just when we all started to doubt the two-time MVP, he proves us wrong again. 62 (!) points, on amazing shooting splits. The entire season up to this point the Warriors have been kind of disappointing. Their biggest flaw, funny enough, was that they needed more shooting to be competitive in the league, and apparently Steph Curry said “no, I can do that myself” and went the hell off.

    18-31 from the field, 8-16 from deep, and 18-19 from the line. What a spectacular game it was for Curry. We’ve all seen these kinds of performances before from him, where it seems like every shot he takes is going in. It feels good to be able to watch a highlight reel of plays from one game for Steph. It does sort of feel like 2015 all over again. I am split between two directions on this performance, though. Is this what it will take for the Warriors to win games, or is this just  a way for the Warriors to win. 

    I’ve said before that I think the Warriors, given the right chances, could make some noise in  a playoff setting, but their losses this season have been bad. Like, really bad. It’s not so much who they are losing to, because it is reasonable to lose to the Nets, the Bucks, and the Blazers, but it’s how much they are losing by. Their point differential through six games is 60 points. Their defense has been nothing short of awful, even with James Wiseman on the floor, and Kelly Oubre is not playing the way I thought he would this season. I think it will be incredibly difficult for the Warriors, namely Steph Curry, to be able to continue to produce these kinds of scoring outbursts. 

    I’m not expecting Steph Curry to go off for 60 every night, that would be absurd. I do think, though, that if the Warriors this season want to win a lot of games, then Curry is going to have to start playing like James Harden, and take every shot. Wiggins and Ourbe have been putting up bricks this season, James Wiseman is just a rookie, and Draymond Green is not an offensive threat whatsoever, not to mention they have no bench help. This is going to have to be a one man show for the Warriors to be close to what they have been the past five years, and I’m not so convinced that Curry is up for the challenge. 

    Would it be fun to see him average 40 or even 50? Hell yeah it would. I just think at this stage of his career and with this team it would take a tremendous amount of effort to play a different style of basketball than Curry is accustomed to, and to do so for a bottom four seed in the West. I’m still thinking that this season might be another wash without Klay Thompson. Could Curry break scoring records? Probably, even with the shortened season if he decided to change his playstyle. Do I think he’s going to? No. He’s a three time champion and a two time MVP. He has nothing left to prove in this game anymore. So I wouldn’t count on this kind of performance all the time. I wouldn’t even expect it once a month. I think it would be manageable to say that every so often we’ll look up and see Steph go off for 40 or 50 like he used to, but for this season, I think Steph and the coaching staff realize it will be an uphill battle, and the main focus now becomes developing young talent, namely James Wiseman. I’m here for the ride, I just don’t expect a lot of loops. Will I be wrong? I guess we just have to wait and see.

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