It’s no secret that this was the year of Steph Curry. The reigning NBA regular season MVP somehow got so much better that he’s not only being considered an unanimous MVP (something that’s never happened), but also for the league’s Most Improved Award. That’s how ridiculous his season’s been.
Curry isn’t nearly as imposing as LeBron James trucking down the lane, nor is he at risk of a concussion from hitting his on the rim a la Blake Griffin. You won’t be in awe of his length like Kevin Durant, nor will you catch him flying through the air with the velocity of a Russell Westbrook.
What Curry does is somehow simple, difficult and impressive at the same time. Sometimes he’s so nonchalant, calm and under control that it seems like he’s in a video game as he tosses in 35 foot shots and flicks up soft left hand layups that somehow go in.
The ease in which he can shake and bake, gather himself and hit what looks like an off-balance three pointer has the league in awe of him. That’s not easy to do –the NBA is best of the best of the best in basketball; they’ve seen everything. So when you have the likes of Damien Lillard, LeBron James, Kyle Lowry, Jamal Crawford and Dirk Nowitzki shaking their heads, you know you’re doing something really special.
Some of the mind-blowing, brain-bending, instant free games, basketball video game app numbers and accomplishments of the 2015-16 Steph Curry:
- Led the NBA in scoring at 30.1 points per game
- He led the league in points despite not playing in 19 fourth quarters
- All-time record of 402 three pointers in one season
- That 402 demolished his own record from last season by 116 threes
- He joined the elite and exclusive 50-40-90 Club
- Curry shot 48% from 30+ feet. The rest of the NBA shot 7%
- He swished this halfcourt shot at the all-star game
- Curry has 16 games where he’s hit eight or more threes
- He has a chance of becoming the NBA’s first unanimous MVP
- The Warriors won 73 games in the regular season — most in NBA history
In this age of data and analytics, I’m sure there’s more I missed — feel free to send them in the comments.
We talk about Curry being a video game this season, but the irony is that he’s actually causing problems with video game developers because he’s so good. The makers of NBA 2K are struggling how to normalize the things that Curry does while staying as close to the reality that when Curry heaves a 50-footer, there’s a good chance of it going in.
At least in 2015-16.
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