Breaking Down Stephen Curry’s Ridiculously Hot Start to the NBA Season
Stephen Curry is good at basketball. You know this. You probably don’t need to be reminded. But we’re doing it anyway. Why? Because Curry’s start to the 2015-2016 NBA season, a year after guiding the Golden State Warriors to their first championship since 1975, has been otherworldly.
Through five games, Curry is averaging a ridiculous 35.8 points per game on 57.4 percent shooting from the field. This essentially means he’s unstoppable. Break down those numbers and it gets even more ridiculous. Incredibly, 53.5 percent of Curry’s shots have been 3-pointers, and he’s knocking them down at a 51.8-percent clip. On 2s? He’s shooting 63.8 percent. Oh, then there’s this statistic:
Steph Curry is on pace for 459 3s this season. The current record is 286, which he set last season.
— Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) November 5, 2015
Alrighty then.
Another fun stat: Curry touches or holds the basketball 81.4 times per game, 12th most in the NBA. That means the ball is in the hands of the league’s most lethal shooter during almost all of his team’s possessions.
A big reason why Curry is so deadly is his pull-up game (defined by nba.com as shots taken after one or more dribbles). Over half of Curry’s shots come from his pull-up jumper. He’s scoring 15.8 points per game on them and hitting 57.7-percent. His rapid-fire release makes his pull-up shot impossible to guard. Also, he takes 34.7 percent (most) of his shots when the shot clock is between 22 and 18 seconds, when the defense has had hardly any time to set up. It’s how he does things like this:
#StephGonnaSteph on CSNBA & ESPN https://t.co/9RzPPqDOJL
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) November 5, 2015
Curry’s shooting has been so good that he actually ranks, through five games, as the league’s third most improved shooter compared to last year, which is absurd when you think about how good he was during that championship run.
It’s super early, but Stephen Curry ranks as the league’s 3rd most IMPROVED shooter: pic.twitter.com/KKHWXnfk9s
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) November 5, 2015
At this point, teams are better off forcing Curry to drive to the hole and make lay-ups. Curry might be as close to a “completely unstoppable” NBA player as we’ve ever had, and the statistics give a fun look at how he’s doing it.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
MOST POPULAR
Breaking Down Stephen Curry’s Ridiculously Hot Start to the NBA Season
Stephen Curry is good at basketball. You know this. You probably don’t need to be reminded. But we’re doing it anyway. Why? Because Curry’s start to the 2015-2016 NBA season, a year after guiding the Golden State Warriors to their first championship since 1975, has been otherworldly.
Through five games, Curry is averaging a ridiculous 35.8 points per game on 57.4 percent shooting from the field. This essentially means he’s unstoppable. Break down those numbers and it gets even more ridiculous. Incredibly, 53.5 percent of Curry’s shots have been 3-pointers, and he’s knocking them down at a 51.8-percent clip. On 2s? He’s shooting 63.8 percent. Oh, then there’s this statistic:
Steph Curry is on pace for 459 3s this season. The current record is 286, which he set last season.
— Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) November 5, 2015
Alrighty then.
Another fun stat: Curry touches or holds the basketball 81.4 times per game, 12th most in the NBA. That means the ball is in the hands of the league’s most lethal shooter during almost all of his team’s possessions.
A big reason why Curry is so deadly is his pull-up game (defined by nba.com as shots taken after one or more dribbles). Over half of Curry’s shots come from his pull-up jumper. He’s scoring 15.8 points per game on them and hitting 57.7-percent. His rapid-fire release makes his pull-up shot impossible to guard. Also, he takes 34.7 percent (most) of his shots when the shot clock is between 22 and 18 seconds, when the defense has had hardly any time to set up. It’s how he does things like this:
#StephGonnaSteph on CSNBA & ESPN https://t.co/9RzPPqDOJL
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) November 5, 2015
Curry’s shooting has been so good that he actually ranks, through five games, as the league’s third most improved shooter compared to last year, which is absurd when you think about how good he was during that championship run.
It’s super early, but Stephen Curry ranks as the league’s 3rd most IMPROVED shooter: pic.twitter.com/KKHWXnfk9s
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) November 5, 2015
At this point, teams are better off forcing Curry to drive to the hole and make lay-ups. Curry might be as close to a “completely unstoppable” NBA player as we’ve ever had, and the statistics give a fun look at how he’s doing it.