“Not Very Great At Dunking”: How Warriors Duo Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson Shifted the Focus of NBA

Published 07/29/2020, 8:30 PM EDT

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are two of the greatest shooters in NBA history. How unfair was it that they ended up on the same team and changed basketball? Steph and Klay’s rampant three-point shooting led to the Golden State Warriors building a dynasty before Kevin Durant even joined. These two offensive juggernauts led the Warriors to a historic 73-9 record based on the power of the perimeter shot.

The entire league has adopted the power of the three-point shift, with the game moving further away from the post and into the perimeter. Guarding players on the perimeter is harder, and shooting is a skill you can learn with practice. Dunking and explosive post moves are usually meant for people with physical gifts.

Thompson is well aware of the lack of athleticism that Steph and he have. He displayed this in an interview with Let’s Go Warriors. Klay simply said, “Not very great at dunking, but great at shooting.”

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Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and three-point shooting

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These three things go together like peanut butter and jelly. Both men have never shot under 40% from three in their career and have had historic shooting seasons together.

Stephen Curry is a five-time leader in three-point scoring. Thompson doesn’t take as many shots as Curry, but has better efficiency and has the greatest hot-streak in NBA history. Thompson displayed that when he dropped 37 points in a quarter and scored 50 points in just three-quarters of action. Klay also has the record for most threes in a game both in the regular season (14) and the playoffs (11). Steph and Klay are tied on 98 threes as the most made in a playoff campaign.

Most modern three-point records are shared by these two players that have shared the same backcourt for almost their entire careers. The Splash Brothers scored 1,687 threes across 2014 and 2017 in the regular season. This averages up to about 562 threes a season in that time span.

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They changed the league by showing that three-point shooting is a viable way to form a championship team. The entire league is just running after the formula that the Splash Brothers created. They really don’t need to dunk ever, because their shooting is their deadly weapon.

Sources: LetsGoWarriors YouTube

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Ishaan Bhattacharya is an NBA, NCAA Basketball, and Combat Sports writer at EssentiallySports. Currently, Ishaan is pursuing a Post Graduate Degree in Journalism from Xavier's Institute of Communication. Previously, Ishaan has written for The Indian Express, The Quint, Sportskeeda, and WrestleClub.

“Not Very Great At Dunking”: How Warriors Duo Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson Shifted the Focus of NBA

Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and three-point shooting

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