Getty Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry reacts during a game against the LA Clippers.
Although the Golden State Warriors lost their road bout with the LA Clippers on Monday, there was at least one moral victory in the effort. Stephen Curry got back to doing Steph things on the perimeter.
In 34 minutes of action, Curry dropped 33 points on 11-of-18 shooting and knocked down eight three-point shots. Many of those triples were his signature deep bombs, too. The Warriors’ MVP hit six threes from 27-plus feet away from the basket, including two 29-footers and one from 30 feet out.
In what has been a funky year for him, Steph has struggled somewhat from ultra-deep. Last year, though, he knocked down 45.6% of his 90 attempts from 30-39 feet. Those are the shots that have helped to transform the way people are playing the game at every level of competition.
However, not everyone is a fan of the evolution, and some of those who would criticize Curry for his role in at all are pretty vocal about it. So, when the sharpshooter guested on another hoops podcast this week, he made a point to address his detractors.
Curry Claps Back Again
During his February 15 appearance on the Knuckleheads podcast with former NBA ballers Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, Curry once again took the opportunity to quibble with the notion that his deep perimeter style has “ruined” basketball.
“I’m going to use this moment to get on my soapbox,” Curry said. “Stop tagging me in all these horrible basketball clips of people taking bad shots, telling me I ruined the game. I did not tell you to shoot that shot.”
The Warriors star made plain the fact that he’s not out there forcing young ballers to hurl the ball from 35 feet out or to put it up early in the shot clock.
“I did not say, ‘shoot that shot,’” Curry joked. “There was one the other day, quickly took a shot in transition — I probably would have shot that shot — but I did not tell him to shoot that shot. It’s tagging [me] left and right, left and right. Like, ‘Yo, you’ve ruined the game. Thanks, Steph.’”
Despite the noise, though, Steph remains humbled by the impact he has made on how offensive basketball is played.
“It’s funny, though, because I appreciate — the ability to change the way people approach the game is unreal. Because the three-point shot and just shooting the basketball, it’s a skill that everybody can work on. Like, you can get better at that.”
The latest Golden State Warriors news straight to your inbox! Heavy on Warriors newsletter here!
Irrational Confidence
As part of the conversation, Curry was asked how his deep gunning started; what inspired it. As he puts it, the move to the far perimeter was a tactical one, boosted by a perhaps unreasonable belief in his own abilities.
“I didn’t have that range the first maybe one or two years, but it was mostly the irrational confidence, the work that you put in, and it became a reaction to how the defense was guarding you. Like, where is the most amount of space? And you have to balance those two because, yeah, everybody has space at 28 feet but is that a good shot?
“It came with time and it was just a natural progression of my game throughout the years. Once you hit a couple, though, and it ain’t luck, once you establish ‘this is where I’m at,’ that’s a good feeling you have knowing you can surprise defenses no matter what, because it’s hard to defend that shot.”
READ NEXT: