My Man: A Weekly Segment

Even though he looks like he’s 12 years old, Stephen Curry doesn’t play like it. I always thought this kid was good when I first saw him play in his freshman year. But now, I’m left speechless when I see him create shots when he’s given nothing to work with.

As some of you may have heard (or seen), earlier this week, Curry’s Davidson played against a rising Oklahoma team that was ranked higher and also had one of the best players in the country in Blake Griffin. After Curry’s performance in last year’s March Madness tournament, there’s no way opposing teams are going to let him get away with anything. They know if they can stop him, they can find a win. Well…Oklahoma did get the win, but they failed in stopping Curry who would go on to score a career high 44 points with a 41.4% field goal percentage. He also managed to rack up 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals although he committed 3 turnovers, and even though putting up a career high against a solid defensive team is as good as it gets, that’s not what caught my attention.

What I saw in Curry was a player who could create shots for himself with no help from his team or the opposing defense. I saw Curry take step back threes in the corner in order to create space for himself, I saw Curry take running threes from beyond NBA range in order to get a shot off before the defense could catch up, I saw Curry use his quickness off the ball to free up high-percentage shots, and I saw Curry make all 14 of his free throws, something the greatest defense couldn’t defend. What didn’t help create shots was the fact that the rest of his team shot 30.8% from the field including Bryant Barr who went 1-9 playing only 6 less minutes than Curry.

Curry is going to be an undersized pure shooter in the NBA, but everyone knows that there’s always a need in the NBA for shooters. And although he might not prove to be the best pro ever, if he decides to stay in college next year, he has a good chance of passing Pistol Pete as the NCAA’s all-time scoring champ, something everyone can appreciate…especially his father, Del Curry. So here’s to My Man, Davidson College’s MVW (Most Valuable Wildcat), Stephen Curry.