Golden State Warriors Set All-Star Game Record, Led By Curry
The Golden State Warriors have placed four on the Western Conference’s All-Star roster, led by Stephen Curry, the heart and soul of the team.
The All-Star Game rosters are officially set and four Golden State Warriors players will participate to the event. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are officially included in Western Conference roster list, while Zaza Pachulia just missed making the cut.
The Georgian, despite a huge mass of votes coming from his native country, failed to earn a spot on the roster and was snubbed by coaches and colleagues.
For the Golden State Warriors, this is a new record. In fact, in the past only three other teams were rewarded with four players on the All Star game roster, with at least two starters. The last team to accomplish the feat were the Los Angeles Lakers in 1998, when Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal started for the Western Conference with Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones also earning spots on the roster.
In history, only the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers placed more starters in an All-Star game with three starters (Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Maurice Cheeks) and one player off the bench (Andrew Toney).
This All-Star Game in New Orleans will be also the first-time Durant and Russell Westbrook will play together since Durant joined the Warriors. During this season, they faced off aginst each other twice. And in their last meeting, Durant crushed his former teammate with a big game, compiling 40 points and 12 rebounds in 33 minutes.
Despite Durant becoming the face of this team, we should not forget about Curry. The two-time MVP in this season is playing (as reported by Kevin Durant) like a superstar with “no-ego.” In fact, after the loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Christmas Day, Curry found himself playing more pick ‘n roll (in that game against the Cavs he took just 11 shots) and admitted he need to be more aggressive.
From that moment, something has changed. In fact, in January the Warriors played thirteen games and Curry shot 43% on his three-point attempts, compared to just 37.5% in December.
As reported by The Nylon Calculus, Curry’s plus/minus is +12.8 points this season, which is on par with last season when he was +12.7. The big difference is in what Curry is doing during the third quarter.
With Curry on the court during the third quarter, the Warriors are outscoring their opponents by an average of 5.5 points — last year, the differential was just +3.1. On the other hand, his performance has changed in the final quarter, where the plus/minus is falling from +2.5 to +0.7 this season. There are less late-game heroic shots, but we should also remember that the Warriors’ system has changed with the addition of Durant.
In fact, Curry is decreasing his numbers after his unique season last year and, at the same time, has learned to share the ball with Durant. But, this is because Curry is a silent leader who knows when he should take the shot and when it’s not necessary. The strength of Golden State is that they have so many different solutions available to them.
Next: Stephen Curry Is The Heart And Soul Of Warriors’ Success Moving Forward
We talked about Durant and Curry, but we can’t forget to talk about the other All-Stars, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. The forward in particular is having one of his best seasons in terms of defensive intensity and it’s not a coincidence if he is in the Top 10 in deflections.
The Warriors allowed 101.0 points per 100 possessions and limit their opponents to just 32.1 percent shooting from three. That is the lowest in the entire NBA. The Warriors are currently an All-Star team in their own right who plays together every night and not just once a year.