Tag: Curry

NBA MVP Rankings: Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic battling for top spot; Stephen Curry still in striking distance

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We’re well past the halfway point, nearing the trade deadline and less than three weeks out from All-Star Weekend. Every year I say this, but the season just always goes faster than you expect. The playoff race is taking shape and so are the awards. Below is where, in my opinion, the MVP race stands entering play on Friday, Feb. 4th. 

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Joel Embiid is the new betting favorite (+225 at Caesars Sportsbook), but I’m sticking with Jokic (second at +300) at the top for now. Jokic has been the best player all season, plain and simple. Embiid is going to be tough to beat with the aid of everyone rooting for him because Ben Simmons left him in the lurch, but Jokic, let’s not forget, has been without his second-best player in Jamal Murray all season, too. And Denver’s third-best player, Michael Porter Jr., only played in nine games. 

Jokic’s case rests on the same on-off foundation that has supported it all season: When he’s on the floor, the Nuggets are elite; when he’s off the floor, they’re literally one of the worst teams, statistically speaking, of the past 20 years. 

To put a number to it, the Nuggets are a staggering 26.7 points per 100 possessions better with Jokic on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass (plus-10.7 when he’s on, minus-16.1 when he’s off). Take Jokic off the floor, and the Nuggets post an offensive and defensive rating that would register as the worst in the league. 

Yet here they are — with Jamal Murray having missed the entire season and Michael Porter Jr. all but nine games — sitting at No. 6 in the West just two losses back of a top-four seed. Absolutely remarkable. 

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Since Dec. 1, Embiid is the league’s leading scorer at 31.5 points per

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Warriors’ seven-game win streak comes to end: Stephen Curry, Golden State shooters lay an egg in Charlotte

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The Golden State Warriors raced out to an 11-1 start behind the top-rated defense in the league and an MVP start to Steph Curry’s season. They’ve also played the league’s softest schedule thus far. They’ve gotten away with some sloppy showings against inferior competition; a couple big runs was all it took to quell their turnover demons.

But you can’t get away with throwing the ball all over the court forever, particularly when Curry — who’s a central part of the turnover problem himself — doesn’t bail you out with a personal fireworks show. 

On Sunday, Curry had what was probably his worst game of the season as the Warriors fell to the Charlotte Hornets 106-102 (box score). The loss snapped Golden State’s seven-game win streak, all of which had come over more than a two-week home stand vs., again, some pretty soft competition. 

The Warriors are opening a four-game road trip, and it didn’t start well. They turned it over 15 times against the Hornets, and that number does not do justice to how lazy and shaky they were with the ball. 

Turnovers are something you have to accept with the way Golden State plays on the edge, forcing the issue in the half-court with never-ending cuts and needle-threading assists, and always pushing the pace in transition. But every game there are a handful of giveaways that just make you shake your head. Curry is never going to fully stop making those one-handed flip passes over double teams that are just waiting to be deflected and/or picked off. 

After posting 50 and 40 points in two of his last three games, Curry shot just 3-of-13 from 3-point range and 7-of-22 overall on Sunday. He still put up 24 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and three steals, and to be

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