Stephen Curry has been on a historic tear in his past four games.
The Warriors find themselves in an interesting spot as the All-Star break approaches, at 27-26 and 10th place in the West. They entered the season with the fourth-highest average age in the league (27.17 years). On the surface, these may not jump off the page as ingredients for a serious contender. Stephen Curry politely disagrees, though. The Warriors’ all-time leader in games played, who just suited up in the blue and gold for the 1,000th time Monday, is turning back the clock.
Curry enters Wednesday’s matchup against the Mavericks (9:30 ET, ESPN) on an absolute tear that is historic for a player of his experience. Chef Curry has had four straight games scoring at least 30 points, joining LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Karl Malone as the only players to have such a streak at age 36 or older.
During this prolific run, Curry has gone for 32, 37, 34 and 38 points and has hit at least six 3’s in each of those outings. All four of those games rank in Curry’s top seven scoring outputs this season, including the 38 that tied his season-high.
He is turning up the aggressiveness as the Warriors fight to keep pace in a crowded and competitive Western Conference playoff picture. Curry is attempting 17.5 3-pointers per game in his last four and connecting on 6.5 per game. No player is taking, or making, as many 3’s per game in that sample as Curry.
Zooming out to where the Warriors stack up in the West, although they’re 10th entering Wednesday, they’re only 2.5 games back of the coveted 6th seed that would save them from playing in the Play-In tournament. It’s a stacked group and it won’t be easy to surge up the standings with the Kings, Mavericks, Timberwolves and Clippers all ahead of them, as well as the Suns right on their heels at 26-26.
That said, the Warriors can make some hay Wednesday with a matchup against Dallas. With a win, the Warriors would move to 2-1 head-to-head against the Mavs this season and ahead of them in the standings. There are some contextual factors working in Golden State’s favor for this matchup, as well, given that Dallas will be without Anthony Davis and Daniel Gafford.
Curry is certainly doing everything in his power to propel this group to another playoff appearance. The Warriors will need to improve as a collective in the second half to help make it all come together, though. They rank 26th in field goal percentage and 30th in free throw percentage. Those are concerning numbers, but they’re also fixable.
The Jimmy Butler trade takes some of the pressure off Curry and is already paying dividends at the line, as Butler is getting there frequently and converting, going 23-for-28 from the stripe in two games. Buddy Hield is turning in another solid season and Draymond Green is back healthy after missing a chunk of January.
Those players are all key to the Warriors’ success, of course. And while Curry’s production in his past four games might be unsustainable over a prolonged stretch, he is making it clear that he still has plenty left in the tank for a playoff push.
