Mavs Seth Curry 'Pitches A Perfect Game': 'In His Groove'
There is a long and specific list of things Seth Curry did to occupy himself during the NBA hiatus.
Surprisingly, shooting a basketball wasn't one of them.
“My wife (Callie) had it shut down,” Curry said of the family's reaction to COVID-19. “Nobody could get in (the house) or out. It was at least a month-and-a-half or two months of not going to a gym.
“I shot a few times on the outdoor court just to touch the ball and get some light work in. But this is by far the longest time I’ve ever been in my life (without shooting a basketball).''
Whatever concerns some NBA players might have about "rust'' is obviously not a factor for the sharp-shooting Curry, as evidenced in Thursday’s 108-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in a scrimmage at the NBA bubble in Orlando. In the Mavs’ first game-like action in four months, Curry came out of mothballs for a game-high 23 points ... and shooting perfection.
He was 8-for-8 from the field. He was 6-for-6 from the arc. He was everything coach Rick Carlisle touts him to be when he calls Curry "statistically, one of the best shooters in the history of the game.''
Said Carlisle: “He’s one of the guys that really was very conscientious during the hiatus. As the season came to a hiatus point he was just getting in his groove.''
The Mavs shot 54.1 percent from the field, so there were lots of "grooves.'' Luka Doncic was good for 14 points, five rebounds and six assists in only 17 minutes. Boban Marjanovic contributed a 17-point, 13-rebound effort.
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Said Doncic: “I think we played great offensively. We’ve got a lot of weapons on our team.”
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Curry (this year averaging 12.6 points per) is a key part of that attack, and he demonstrated that early here in the first quarter with a trio of consecutive 3-pointers. This was a night in which so much attention was naturally on Lakers stars like LeBron James (12 points and five assists in 15 minutes) and Anthony Davis (12 points in 15 minutes). ... and on Luka, too.
But during the eight seeding games and the NBA playoffs, too, Dallas opponents are also going to need to account for in-the-groove Curry, who didn't think his "perfect game'' was so outrageous at all.
“Every shot I got was something I worked on and something I probably should actually make,” Curry said. “It wasn’t anything too crazy. ... It felt good and I hope things continue.”
