In the Golden State Warriors’ game 4 loss against the Los Angeles Lakers, Stephen Curry had a 31-point triple-double. However, the Warriors ended up losing 104-101 after scoring just 2 points in the final minute of the game. The Golden State Warriors are now on the verge of a Conference semifinal exit and need a motivated effort from their superstars to stay in contention. Curry might have finished with good numbers but had another uncharacteristically inefficient shooting night.
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Speaking on The Undisputed, Skip Bayless dwelled deep on Stephen Curry’s statistics, claiming that the Warriors’ main man did not play “winning basketball.” Curry produced his worst offensive display with respect to shooting efficiency in the Playoffs thus far and was boxed out for large stretches of the game.
Skip Bayless criticizes Stephen Curry after Game 4 loss
Bayless claimed that Curry had a decent game for an elite player like himself, who is widely considered to be the best shooter of all time. For this reason alone, Bayless expected the 35-year-old to have a much better conversion rate:
“You just skim the box score and you say, oh my god, that’s winning basketball. No it was not. Because hidden within these numbers, 12 of 30 shots overall, 3 of 14 from 3, 6 of 19 in the second half, 1 of 9 from 3 in the second half. Down the stretch, he missed two big shots that could have the team on the top.”
With the game and the Warriors’ season in jeopardy, Curry had two shots that could have taken the Warriors ahead in the final minute of the game. However, he missed both of them:
“14 times Steph has taken a go-ahead shot in the final 50 seconds of playoff games and never made one of them. That does not speak well to his big-picture legacy. I have never quite forgiven him because I wanted Golden State to beat LeBron in the 2016 Finals. They were up 3 games to 1. He played even smaller than he is. A lot of guys try to give him a pass due to his height. But he is the greatest shooter ever. So what do I expect from him? I expect him to be better than 12 off 30.”
LA Lakers have made an easy job of defending champions
The LA Lakers surely have seen improvement across the board, especially in defensive tenacity. Anthony Davis looks back to his best and has proved to be unstoppable for the Warriors for large parts of the series.
While LeBron James has had his fair share of highlights, the Lakers have not needed him to come up clutch in the series thus far. While Bayless might be right in criticizing Curry’s efficiency during this series, the Warriors’ other superstars have also endured listless games.
It was Gary Peyton with 15 points who was the most efficient scorer on the night. Klay Thompson converted just 3 of his 11 attempts, while Andrew Wiggins did slightly better, getting points from 6 of his 14 shots on the night. In such a scenario, it is paramount that Curry gets the support he needs in the next one, or more games to come.
