Almost as inherently as I’m drawn to the points category in a basketball boxscore, I’m interested in the field goals made and the field goals attempted by a player. For instance, 30 points is great and all, but how spectacular is it if you had to bomb up 24 shots to get that mark? Or last week for example, everybody was going gaga for Stephen Curry after he scored 44 points in a showdown with Oklahoma. Only problem is he did so shooting 41% from the field in a loss. That was the bottom line to me — not the 44 points — but the loss. Was it worth it? Well, we kind of had our test case in the matter as Loyola of Maryland decided they would make a conscious effort to shutdown Curry.
From the moment the ball was tossed up to start Tuesday night’s game against Loyola (Md.), Davidson’s star guard was hounded by two defenders.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop told FOXSports.com shortly after the victory. “From the time the ball entered the court, there were two guys on him and they didn’t leave him the entire game.”
So Curry decided that he would hang out by the sidelines to make it a 4 on 3 game for his team — a clear advantage. Curry’s personal stats took it in the shorts as he went 0-3 with zero points for the game, but his team won easily, 78-48. I’m guessing they wouldn’t have won by as large of a margin had Loyola (Md) played a standard defense and not allowed the open man each time. Curry took it well and decided to put the team first, something I really respect. And I think this further cements my point: it’s not about how much the top scorer gets, it’s about how much he helped his team while scoring the points.
