Steph Curry is off to a scorching hot start in his 15th NBA season.
Through the first four games of the 2023-24 season, the Warriors superstar is averaging 33.5 points on 55.8-percent shooting from the field and 47.1 percent from 3-point range, good enough to be the second-leading scorer in the league this season, only behind Dallas Mavericks scoring machine Luka Dončić.
But the early domination isn’t as impressive to Curry himself as it has been to those watching.
“No,” Curry responded when asked if this is as hot as he’s felt to open a season (h/t The Athletic’s Anthony Slater).
The four-time NBA champion instead believes his start to the 2015-16 campaign was his hottest start, in which he averaged 37 points on 59.5-percent shooting from the field and 48.8 percent from deep in the first four games — including a 53-point explosion in the third game of the season — and then extended the hot stretch, well, really throughout the rest of the season.
He had 13 games where he dropped 40 or more points, and only 13 of the 79 games he played where he didn’t score at least 20 points.
Curry finished the season averaging 30.1 points shooting a career-high 50.1 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from behind the arc.
This season, Curry is locked in like it’s the playoffs as Golden State looks to bounce back from an underwhelming second-round boot from last postseason.
The Warriors began the 2022-23 season with an 0-8 record on the road, and those road struggles carried over into the rest of the season. This year, it’s been a point of emphasis to come together even more away from Chase Center and to do that early on to help build confidence the rest of the way.
So far this season, the Warriors are 3-0 on the road.
“[I’m] just playing with confidence and having fun, playing basketball,” Curry said. “I feel good but I’m just more excited about our team and how we’re putting it all together this early. What we’re showing in terms of the cohesiveness, the ability to mix and match lineups, the way [Chris Paul] is running our second unit and then infusing himself with the starters.
“And our bench is not only holding onto leads, they’re building on them. It just gives us so much confidence, especially on the road, to win.”
There still is plenty of basketball to be played, but Curry and the Warriors certainly are on the right track to getting back to championship contention.