Curry's disappearing act has Warriors scratching heads

You lose by 33, as the Cavs did, you win the next by 30. Kevin Love gets a concussion 72 hours before tipoff that Curry's disappearing act has Warriors scratching heads benches him for Game 3, and the Warriors stagger out of Quicken Loans Arena with a headache. J.R. Smith hit a shot, and then, Smith hit another shot. It just doesn't make sense. The real mystery isn't about the extreme turnaround that happened Wednesday when Cleveland copped an attitude and sucker punched a Warriors team labeled "soft" by their coach, Steve Kerr. Instead, the continued vaporization of a unanimous MVP is the unforeseen phenomenon. Stephen Curry is not just a ghost in this series, he's a UFO and Bigfoot and the Donald Trump campaign all rolled into one. While Cavs coach Tyronn Lue must weigh the benefit of bringing Love back into the mix and potentially destroying the matchup advantage the Cavs enjoyed without him in their 120-90 win, Kerr and the Warriors must resolve Curry. He was missing in the figurative sense in Game 3, and really for the entire series so far. Taking it a step further, in nine Finals games dating back to last summer, Curry has yet to unleash a volcanic effort, the kind that repeatedly defined his historic season and elevated the Warriors into superteam territory. He knows and they know. "I have to play 100 times better," Curry admitted. "I didn't play my game. I'm disappointed I didn't help my team win." Once again we're seeing things from Curry that stir the imagination, the difference being, these aren't shots from halfcourt. These are psychological stumbles and amazingly tame performances. In the second quarter, after a sloppy foul, Curry was yanked and had to answer to Kerr on the bench. Imagine that: During a championship game, a player of Curry's level required a lecture -- nothing angry, but still -- and a wakeup call from the coach. That rarely happens this time of year to franchise players, and almost never to Curry any time of year. I have to play 100 times better. I didn't play my game. I'm disappointed I didn't help my team win. – Golden State's Stephen Curry

"I would've done the same thing," said Curry. "He's trying to figure some life and a way to get me going." It was that type of game, and really that kind of series so far for Curry. He sleepwalked through much of the first half, didn't score his first basket until four minutes before the break, suffered whiplash on backdoor cuts by Kyrie Irving and lost control of the ball three times in the game's first five minutes. With Curry trapped in the kind of fog that swallows the Bay Area during morning rush, the Cavs seized advantage and raced to a sizable lead they would keep until the buzzer. His matchup with Irving would seemingly give him the upper hand, mainly because of Irving's reputation as a weak defender. Instead, Irving ripped through Curry for 16 points in the first quarter while Curry replied with astonishing passivity and only five first-half shots. He looked, dare we say, timid? It was an odd performance by Curry on both ends which cost the Warriors, who take their cue from him, precious energy if not the game.