The First Steph

There are many reasons for the Warriors’ run of success over the past four years, but it begins and ends with Stephen Curry.

“That’s your shooting totals, and that’s your plus-minus,” says Kerr, in the NBA YouTube video titled “Steve Kerr with Words of Encouragement for Stephen Curry.

“All right? So it’s not always tied together. You’re doing great stuff out there. The tempo is so different when you’re out there. Everything you generate is so positive. It shows up here [in the plus-minus], not always there [in the shooting totals]. You’re doing great. Carry on, my son.” That, my friend, is Curry’s impact, in the gospel according to Kerr. At times, Curry may appear frustrated on the rare occasion he is missing shots—though he posted only six such subpar games in 2017-18 where he registered a GameScore lower than 8.4 (GameScore is the Player Efficiency Rating per-game metric that combines efficiency with productivity), as opposed to 45 uber-efficient GameScores of 14.3 or better in his injury-shortened 51-game season.

So even on those rare off nights, according to Kerr, Curry still can draw attention away from the defense, freeing up others for their own stellar performances.

“I try to be versatile,” said Curry at a Western Conference Finals press conference, “whether I’m shooting 15 threes or five. Or scoring 18 points or 40. Trying to find a way to impact the game on both ends. I have to be a threat out there at all times, and demand some attention, be sure with the ball and kind of manage the game. That encompasses a lot of different things—playing on the ball, set screens, whatever it takes.”

At no time has Curry’s overall impact in that regard been greater felt than this season, with the two-time NBA MVP missing 31 games with a knee injury.

His grade 2 MCL sprain effectively kept Curry out of action from March 9 until May 1.

During that span of the regular season, the 6-3, 190-pound guard saw his normally unflappable Warriors start flapping, as they went 17-14 in the games he missed, after going 41-10 in the games he did play.

“We went through a lot this season,” said Curry, now 30 years old. “We just had to find ways to set mini goals throughout the season, deal with injuries. The big picture was to get to this point. We just had to continue to build momentum down the stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs.”

That is precisely what they did, with Curry always excelling in the pockets of the season when he was healthy.

His shooting exploits are well-chronicled, with the NBA’s most prolific bomber making at least 41 percent of his three-point attempts, 53 percent of his two-point attempts and 90 percent of his free throws in each of the four seasons he has led Golden State to an Finals appearance.

Quite frankly, during these Finals runs, Curry has bested everyone but Anthony Davis (28.2) in PER from the 2014-15 through 2017- 18 seasons, posting a 28.1 PER himself, while averaging 26 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists along the way.

But, as Kerr notes, Curry’s influence on his Warriors teammates is so much greater than mere box-score statistics, perhaps captured best by advanced metrics.

Curry’s plus-minus numbers during that four-year span lead the NBA by a country mile, according to Basketball-Reference.com, with Curry registering a plus-3,445 margin, despite missing 39 games.

That is over a thousand plus-minus points more than any NBA peer in an opposing uniform (Chris Paul ranks fourth at plus-2,362 these past four seasons), and hundreds more than any of his Warriors teammates (Draymond Green and Klay Thompson have plus-3,044 and plus-2,808 totals, ranking second and third in the NBA respectively).

“Steph’s impact has always gone beyond scoring,” said fellow Splash Brother Thompson in a Western Conference Finals press conference.

It only amplifies exponentially when you surround Curry, the most accurate shooter (an NBA-best .650 true shooting percentage) of the 100 most prolific three-point shooters (an NBA-best 1,224 three-pointers) these past four seasons, while playing alongside the second-most prolific three-point shooter (Thompson, 1,012 three-pointers) and third-best shooter (Durant, .640) of the aforementioned marksmen. Steph? Klay? And KD? “Passers paradise, for me,” says Green, who averaged 7.3 assists per game. “I enjoy it.”

It is no wonder Curry has three of the best four plus-minus campaigns since 2001—when you combine regular seasons with postseasons— which includes his NBA-record plus-1,261 plus-minus margin in 2016-17 in 96 games (a plus-13.1 per game average). For Curry, however, that is just a reflection of the great team he is on. “We’ve got a good thing going,” said Curry. “Everybody knows their role and everybody appreciates the moment that we’ve had, the extended moments we’ve had over the last few years, and hopefully more to come. Just feeding off each other’s energy, and it’s been great.”