On December 26, Beijing time, the 2021-22 season year-end battle will begin, the Warriors will play against the Suns on the road, the second place in the West will meet the first place in the West, and the strong dialogue will bring the smoke of the Western Conference preview.
The year-end war is the highlight of the NBA's regular season and a stage for stars to show their talents. Curry's NBA career ninth time in the year-end war, as the NBA history three-point king, the symbol of the basketball era, he is naturally the darling of the year-end war, but Curry's performance in this game is somewhat deviated from expectations.
Curry has participated in the year-end war 8 times before, and the record is 3 wins and 5 losses, and the last 3 times are all defeats.
Curry has been in the year-end war eight times before, averaging 13 points, 5 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, shooting 30% from the field and 20% from three-point range. In the days Curry has played at least 5 games, the year-end battle day averaged the lowest points per game.
Curry has never scored 20 points in a single game in the year-end battle, never shot more than 42% of a single game, and even his best three-pointer has failed, and no three-point shot in eight games has been higher than two.
The year-end war, for this historical three-point king, there is a sense of "magic". This time, can Curry break this "spell" and play his year-end war masterpiece?
The answer to this question is actually whether Curry can break the Suns' defense.
Curry's worst game in the 2021-22 season was against the Suns, on December 1, the Warriors lost to the Suns 96-104 on the road, Curry only scored four goals in 21 shots, three-pointers 3 of 14, which is the first time in Curry's NBA career that he has shot more than 20 shots in a single game but less than 20% of the shooting rate.
"I didn't find the feel and the opponent's defense was special." Curry said after the game.
The Suns' defense against Curry can be summed up in two words, "chase" and "block", the former being responsible for Bridges and the latter being taken care of by Ayton.
Bridges is the Suns' first choice against Curry, his height, arm span, speed and defensive awareness all match this tactical role, and he follows Curry throughout the game, not even giving him the space to shoot. In the Game of December 1, when Bridges was defending Curry, Curry only made three shots and conceded all of them without scoring a single point.
When teammates gave Curry cover, Bridges squeezed through the cover to continue chasing, and Ayton changed to prevent delays. Ayton's agility prevented Curry from forming an effective "roll call.". On December 1, Curry scored just one goal in nine shots against Ayton.
The Warriors returned home on December 4 to win against the Suns, but Curry was also average in that game, with Bridges injuring his right hand during the game, and even so Curry's defense against Bridges did not take advantage, and there was still no score during the position against Bridges, "named" Ayton 4 shots 1.
Curry did not play well with the Suns, although there were objective factors that Bridges and Ayton gave restrictions, but there were also subjective reasons for Curry. Although Curry set a new three-point record and had multiple highlight games this season, he shot the second-worst career goal with 43.8 percent shooting, just better than the 2019-20 season, which only played five games.
The main reason for this is Curry's decline in end efficiency in the near basket area, and his shooting percentage from within 3 feet of the basket this season is 56.8%, a new low since 2012, and Curry has been above 62% for eight consecutive seasons.
Because the shooting efficiency of the near-basket area has declined compared with before, Curry's dependence on three-pointers this season has reached a career high, and the proportion of three-point shots in the total shooting is as high as 65%, and this mode of relying on long-range shooting to support the offensive basic set will inevitably bring about fluctuations in efficiency.
Curry's appearance of such an offensive form, and his physical condition and the Warriors' tactical system have a certain relationship, as the season progresses, the opponent in the case of personnel allocation conditions, curry to use a combination of "chase" and "blocking" defense will become a regular model, such as the Warriors against the 76ers on December 12, Curry was suppressed by Sebel and Embiid, 20 shots 14 times.
The year-end war, which can also be interpreted as the "mid-year" war, is the middle point of a season of regular seasons, which begins to advance towards the second half of the season. In the Warriors' ranking, no big surprises appeared, they entered the playoffs is very stable, but how far they can go in the playoffs, there are still doubts, the key to solving this question is Curry's offense, the more efficient he is, the better the Warriors' season prospects.
A player who ranks second on the season scoring list with an average of 27.7 points per game, a player who has achieved the first person in NBA three-point history, is undoubtedly outstanding, but Curry can play better relative to his own level, and the year-end battle may be an opportunity to face the Suns' defensive chain again, is Curry able to snow the shame of shooting the worst game of his career and make a good start for the second half of the upcoming regular season?
'I like the year-end battle because it means we're among the top teams, but from my personal point of view, I always don't play well in the year-end battle, and this time I have to try to change. Curry said.
Can change be done? The 46 points against the Grizzlies are a good signal, and Curry can always bring expectations and cash in on expectations, and he is also epoch-making.