Warriors' hopes hinge on Curry's stroke

If the challenge of being Stephen Curry is the expectation of making traditionally low-percentage shots, at least it comes with a simple solution when things aren't going well.

"Just got to shoot better," Curry said at the Golden State Warriors' shootaround in advance of Game 3 of the NBA Finals Tuesday night.

It won't take much improvement to shoot better than the 5-for-23 performance -- 2-for-15 on 3-pointers -- he had in the Warriors' overtime loss in Game 2. Returning to the 41 percent 3-point shooting he's averaging for the playoffs would probably be enough to remind people why the Warriors were the favorites heading into this series. Golden State might try to help Curry by alleviating some of his ballhandling duties and letting him run around off screens, or have him pass early and get passes back.

Curry disputed the notion that he was affected by the hard fall in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, which bruised his head and left the right side of his body sore. He wore a sleeve on his right arm the next game, then discarded it midway through after a slow shooting start. He has shot 34 percent from the field and 22 percent on 3s in the three full games since the fall.

"[The fall] has nothing to do with it," Curry said. "I feel good."

On the other side of the ball, the Warriors aren't concerned with their defense. It's not the problem. The Cleveland Cavaliers shot 37 percent in the first two games, and LeBron James' otherworldly stats are a function of his greatness and not the Warriors' inability to guard him.

The Warriors want to see their ball-moving, high-scoring offense return. Cleveland has diminished scoring opportunities simply by holding the ball and reducing the number of possessions. It's the return of 1990s isolation ball, and as much as general fans might dislike it and the data analysts argue against it, there's not much wrong in the Cavaliers' eyes to watching LeBron drain the shot clock, then go one-on-one in the final seconds. It's to their advantage, even if the Warriors would rather see him do that than create easy shots for his teammates.In Game 2, James managed to do both.

Curry doesn't have as many responsibilities as LeBron. Curry is a willing and capable passer, but Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green, able to create as well, aren't completely reliant on Curry to score. But they're all more effective when the team passes quickly and keeps the defense off-balance. That's on everybody, not just Curry.

He can't be expected to provide the leadership that LeBron has because he's never been through this before.

He talked about the frustration the Warriors felt after Game 2 because "nobody on our team has lost a Finals game before. You have to deal with those emotions. Just try to move on, because the series is far from over."

If it seems as though Curry is being let off the hook for his dreadful Game 2 performance, that's probably accurate. But the reason it doesn't belong next to John Starks' infamous 2-for-18 on the NBA Finals wall of shame is that Starks' performance came in a Game 7. Defining moments rarely come from the first two games of a series.

That doesn't mean it's not too soon for the Warriors to be suffering an identity crisis.

One of the challenges of the playoffs is for teams to remain true to their nature while the pressure and quality of opposition increase. The Cavaliers have re-invented themselves out of necessity because of injuries, but there's no need for the Warriors to get away from what won them 67 games during the regular season -- including 28 on the road.

"We just have to be ourselves," Curry said. "We have to play harder, play more intense and we'll be fine. Just have confidence in what got us to this point.

"There's a sense of urgency now, obviously this being the Finals. We have to not let any quarters, any possessions go as we try to win three more games."

The objective is simplification. It can be an ally or it can be cruel. Make more shots and Curry can add the Bill Russell trophy to his regular-season Most Valuable Player award. Miss more shots and Curry will be known as a great shooter who couldn't make them when they mattered most.