Daily MVP Film Breakdown: Steph Curry’s Complete Game

Calling Steph Curry one of the greatest shooters of all time is a tremendous insult to the man.

First, he is undeniably the best shooter who has ever lived. Second, confining Curry to the box of “shooter” ignores his complete game. Steph’s handle is up there with Kyrie’s, and his vision and passing is up there with LeBron’s. He hits 63 percent of restricted area attempts, defends at an elite level, and does things that no other human being has never done before.

Steph showed us his entire game Monday night in a 116-108 win over the Timberwolves, and it was gorgeous. He put up 38 points on 23 shots, hitting 7 out of 14 attempts from long range and going 7 for 7 from the free throw line. Anthony Davis edged him out by three points, but he needed 11 more shot attempts to do it and lost by 13.

Curry snagged seven rebounds, just like the big man did. He also added six assists, two steals and a block. Since Steph returned to the lineup on 12/1, he’s averaging 31.4 points, 5.2 assists, and 5.6 rebounds. He’s shooting over 50% from the floor and from three, and draining nearly six triples a game. When he’s healthy, he’s arguably the best player in the league.

Even though he finished the game with 38 points, he started the contest by getting the mere mortals involved early. All of these passes are fairly simple, but they’re all pretty in a uniquely Steph Curry way. I can’t think of another player in the NBA who regularly uses this off-hand jump hook, but Curry has mastered it.

Steph has a knack for setting up teammates in transition, whether they’re hanging out by the three-point arc, trailing the play, or streaking to the basket for a layup.

Curry knocks down an trey here, but it’s all set up by creative and unselfish play by… Steph Curry. He makes a circus pass across the floor on the drive, then keeps running to the open corner. It seems like he makes a play like this at least once a game, and defenders still forget to run with him.

More on his shooting in a second, but first let’s check out how he gets all the way to the rim. By keeping the defense off balance with his limitless range and quick trigger, he doesn’t even have to really pump fake to get defenders out of position and create a lane to the hoop.

A lot of times Curry doesn’t even need that three-point threat to create layups, he’s just plain good down low. He’s creative and quick, and he’ll attack just about anybody.

Ok, now let’s talk about that shooting. Steph is a ridiculous combination of smooth, quick, and accurate. Watch this one a few times to appreciate how there’s no wasted motion at all. It’s in and out of his hands before Andrew Wiggins can say, “Oh no.”

Steph got his normal shots: running to the corner as a teammate snagged an offensive rebound, barely getting space off a screen and drilling a 27 footer anyway, that sort of thing. He even got lucky and turned one of his only bad passes into an open corner three for himself.

Once the game got to the fourth quarter, and Steph had already made sure his human companions were well fed, he got into one of those “I’m just gonna rip shots and nobody on this planet can stop me” moods.

Even on a play where he set up KD for a wide open three, it was Curry who wound up following the play and sinking a shot that would be difficult for anyone except him.

Kevin Durant is a fantastic player, but the Warriors are not the Warriors without Steph Curry. Please don’t him to a shooter when in reality he’s one of the best to ever play the game, and currently battling LeBron for the title of Best in the World Right Now. It’s really that close, and it depends on the night.

LeBron had 28 points, 12 assists and 9 boards, plus he locked up his banana boat buddy D Wade on the last play of the game to secure the win. This could have easily been about him, but not even the King is capable of doing so many of the things Steph Curry does on a nightly basis.

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Daily previews of matchups to watch around the league, and film breakdowns of the best performance from the night before. Twitter @RealTomPetrini, Spurs interviews and analysis @projectspurs.

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