For the first time in what felt like a long time, Steph Curry finally looked like himself again in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's Game 3.
With his Golden State Warriors stuck 17 heading into the final frame, Curry - who looked borderline catatonic all night - finally came to life, drilled five triples, and brought his team to within a point of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Alas, it was too little, too late, and the Cavs escaped with a five-point win. But that doesn't mean the wild fourth-quarter run was for naught. Curry told reporters after the game he noticed a few things at the end of the game, which he believes he can carry into Game 4 and beyond.
"I think I found something when it comes to how I’m going to be able to attack their pick-and-rolls and even certain iso situations," Curry said. "I’ll keep that in the memory bank going into Game 4, and hopefully it has a trickle over effect into the first quarter of the next game."
He didn't delve into the specifics of what he saw or what the new attack plan would look like, but the Warriors did find some success running him off a bazillion consecutive screens.
Curry's final stat line looked impressive - 27 points, 10-of-20 shooting, 7-of-13 from downtown - but those numbers belie the fact the league MVP looked mopey, disengaged, and out of sorts for the majority of the game, failing to pick up his shell-shocked teammates when they needed him most.
Head coach Steve Kerr said he wasn't a fan of Curry's energy, whose passivity was reflected by his failure to get to the free-throw line even once. Curry knows the Warriors have the talent to win the series, but acknowledged they need to play with a far greater sense of urgency.
"We became the aggressors," he said of his team's fourth-quarter push. "Just like the last three minutes of Game 2. For us to win this series, we have to play that way the whole game. We have the depth, we have the talent to do it, whether we’re at home or on the road."
