Steph Curry's Opening Night Triple-Double: A Sign of Things to Come?

To say the Warriors had a scrappy win over the Lakers last night would be an understatement: They executed the little things well enough to get the season started right (to the tune of 30 total team assists, 9 offensive boards and 55 points from the bench mob), but it sure wasn’t pretty. The most disappointing aspect, however, was probably Steph Curry’s performance on the night. Curry shot 5 for 21 from the field, 2 for 8 from downtown, his points total only salvaged by a perfect 9 for 9 from the charity stripe. The first half showed him being a little too careless with the ball, committing half of his 4 total turnovers in a two-minute span that also included a bricked three. Watching the game, you’d be pretty disappointed by his performance if you didn’t check the stat line.

At the end of the game, however, Curry ended up with a triple double, putting up a stat line of 21 points, 10 boards, and 10 assists. The last time Curry recorded a triple double was in January of 2016, the year he was the league’s unanimous MVP. So what does this say going forward about how Steph Curry could be operating this season? Avid fans of the game know Steph Curry is a lot more dimensional than just a shooter, and on a night where he shot 23% from the field, he was still seeing traps and half-court hedges into double teams which allowed him to move the ball around. He’s always been able to make those passes and set the play up well, either by drawing two defenders or just making the right pass. The biggest difference this season from last? He’s got a whole lot of options to pass out towards.

Curry’s acumen as a passer is probably the most underrated part of his game, and is something he never gets credit for. His highest season total for assists per game was 8.5 in his last year under former coach Mark Jackson, a year before Steve Kerr shifted the dynamic of the Warriors offense to be a more inside-passing-out that wasn’t reliant on traditional point guards, but bigs with good vision. This shift in play style allowed Curry to capitalize on his scoring ability with the hardware to match in the form of his two scoring titles, but that doesn’t diminish just how good a passer Curry can be. While he hasn’t always been the best rebounder at 6’3, he’s shown he can be scrappy and aggressive on the boards, following up misses from both himself and teammates while sometimes vulturing a few rebounds out from the defense’s nose. Both of these skills are things in his game that are ever-present, but often-overlooked.

Will we see Steph become a triple-double machine? The answer is a pretty solid no, but we could see more of a versatile approach from him this season. The hyperfocus he draws from opposing defenses allows him to become more of a playmaking piece instead of just a scorer (although you can certainly bet that he’ll continue to put up unfathomable numbers in that regard). Because of the attention he gets, it’s not unreasonable to believe we’ll see Curry with the ball in his hands much like last year so he can make reads to get his teammates involved in addition to his continued running around a couple screens to get free. Curry also has the added benefit of guys who can create their own shots (Poole, Wiggins, and now Bjelica) and spot-up shooters (Porter Jr. and Lee) that can take the scoring load off a bit, letting him play as the central core of the offense even more-so.

(Photo credit: Lochlan Cunningham / Getty Images)