Steph Curry’s 3-point makes don’t typically touch anything besides the net, much less the backboard.
But for a key 3-pointer during Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, Curry used glass.
With five minutes to play and the game tied 89-89, Curry got the ball off a broken play, dribbled to the top of the arc and banked in the straight-on three to put the Warriors ahead.
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It ultimately wasn’t enough, as Curry struggled shooting down the stretch aside from that triple, and the Warriors fell 106-101 at FedExForum to send the series to San Francisco even at a game apiece.
Curry was asked Friday if he remembered the last time he banked in a three.
“That’s a great question,” Curry said to reporters. “I don’t know. That’s why I had that reaction because I was kind of confused myself. I didn't feel like it was a bank.”
The reporter then asked a follow-up question about whether Curry was trying to bank it in.
“From the top of the key? You’re trying to give me all that credit? Appreciate that,” Curry joked.
Golden State Warriors
It doesn’t take long to find some of Curry’s best long-distance shots, and some of them include banked-in threes from halfcourt to beat the buzzer.
Perhaps his best banked-in 3-pointer came in 2016 against the Dallas Mavericks, when he shook Dirk Nowitzki in the corner and then went high off the glass with a three from a seemingly impossible angle.
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That banked-in three against the Grizzlies on Tuesday might be discussed more had the Warriors held onto the lead. But Curry missed his last two 3-point attempts, capping off a night where he had 27 points but shot just 3-of-11 from distance.
In the playoffs, Curry is shooting just 38.6 percent from 3-point range – right around his average for the regular season and pretty good for any NBA player, but well below Curry’s career average of 42.8 percent.
The answer to Curry’s shooting “woes” likely isn’t aiming to bank in more threes. But, the points count no matter how they go in the basket.