Off target

Stephen Curry knows how to handle misses

BY DAVID THORPE

For the second time in less than two weeks, Stephen Curry could barely make a shot. It was March 2016, and the Warriors were chasing history. The Lakers had ended a Warriors six-game winning streak at home in early March by “forcing” Curry to take tough 3s, and he missed nine of them in 10 attempts. Now, the Spurs were doing the same thing, beating the weary Warriors after an eight-game win streak that started following that Lakers loss. 

Danny Green blocked a Curry 3, the first time all season that had happened. Defenders flew out at him almost recklessly, determined to rush the most dominating shooter the league had ever seen. Curry kept firing up those shots, but it was like the Lakers game all over again. He finished making just one 3-point shot in 12 attempts, and the Spurs won a pivotal game, keeping them three wins behind the Warriors for the top seed in the west. 

The game mattered, and Curry had failed hugely.