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Stephen Curry says ‘great teams don’t take nights off’
Curry responds to LeBron James comments about Warriors being more hungry than Cavaliers
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03
NBA hosting three action-packed games
From left, Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala, Stephen Curry, and interim head coach Luke Walton during the second half of a recent game.
(Photo: AP)
LOS ANGELES – When a frustrated LeBron James mentioned the Golden State Warriors’ hunger recently as part of a motivational message for his Cleveland Cavaliers, it wasn’t just his teammates who heard the message.
Stephen Curry heard him too.
“Yeah, I did (hear James’ comment),” Curry told USA TODAY Sports as the undefeated Warriors (12-0) prepared to face the Clippers at the Staples Center Thursday night. “I mean he’s motivating his team however he needs to. But he’s not in our locker room, so he doesn’t know kind of what’s going on. You can look at our record and make that (assumption about the Warriors being hungry). It’s probably pretty self-explanatory that we’re hungry.”
To hear James marvel about the Warriors’ level of dominance is to be reminded just how special their start has been. Bear in mind, it’s not as if the Cavaliers have been slouching so far. James’ comment, in which he noted after Tuesday night’s loss to Detroit that “the team that beat us (in the Finals last June) looks more hungry than we are,” brought Cleveland’s record to 8-3 (tied with the Chicago Bulls for tops in the East).
For Curry’s part, there’s a sense of confidence and understanding about what the Warriors are doing that supersedes all the surrounding noise – from James or otherwise. Not only are they three wins away from tying the NBA record for best ever start to a season (the 1948-49 Washington Capitals and the 1994 Houston Rockets), but they are just two wins away from tying the mark for best start by a defending champion (the 1957-58 Boston Celtics).
Winning every time out is one thing, but this is quite another. From their gaudy point differential (a league-leading plus 15.3, with San Antonio’s plus-10.8 a distant second) to Curry’s better-than-ever individual play (league-leading 33.7 points per game, 45.6% from three-point range, 5.9 assists, 4.8 rebounds), Golden State – which needed overtime to beat Brooklyn on Saturday and won a tight game against Toronto on Tuesday (115-110) – is making the game look easy on most nights.
But James’ central point was, well, on point. The Warriors are playing with a hunger that belies the title team norm, avoiding the kind of hangover that sometimes plagues champions while showing an early urgency that has led to some beautiful basketball at every turn. The inspiration, Curry shared, is simple.
“Because we want to be great,” he said. “I don’t think great teams take nights off. I don’t think great teams really coast through parts of the schedule just because you feel like you have the talent to do it. That cheats the process, and I think we have guys who understand (that).
“For us, we have to continue to lay down the foundation – even though we just came off a championship run – to lay down the foundation of another run, because this year is going to be totally different. That’s what we all want, is to celebrate again in June. This time last year, we were still learning the system, but we were playing hard, playing with that effort every single night. This year, we’re just a little better individually, better as a team, and I think that’s showing. Everybody is pretty focused.”
The collective focus is clearly a key factor, especially considering the Warriors have done all this while head coach Steve Kerr continues to recover from the complications caused by offseason back surgery. Kerr, who handed the interim head coach reins to assistant Luke Walton but has still been around the team, made his first trip to a regular season road game in Los Angeles. As has been the case at Warriors home games and practices, he had a presence during the team’s morning shootaround but will likely disappear to the back rooms come tipoff time.
By all accounts, Walton has been nothing short of wonderful while taking on this unexpected challenge. But for him and them, it’s natural to wonder if this early surge might not come with a cost. Is this too much, too soon, perhaps, and might they peak too early while losing sight of the long view? But as Curry discussed, the Warriors’ depth is the antidote that every other team wishes it had. Eleven players average at least nine minutes per game, and Curry’s team-leading time logged (35.5 minutes per) is just 15th overall in the NBA.
“Our coaches do a good job of monitoring (the collective fatigue factor),” Curry said. “Obviously we want to play as much as we can, but you rack up minutes and have to keep the big picture in mind. We have such a deep team that it’s not an issue of running guys ragged out there on the floor with heavy minutes every night. If we take care of our business, the starters don’t need to play 40-plus, the bench comes in and does what they have to do and everybody is taking care of their jobs, so we want to keep that formula.”
Translation: they’re hungry to keep this streak going.
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