Gui Santos: Seth “just being a Curry, that superpower”

[videos/interviews/transcripts]

Seth Curry final stat line: 12 minutes played, 4-for-6 field, 2-for-3 on threes, 3-for-3 on free throws, 3 assists, no turnovers, 13 points.

I said a couple games ago that maybe he could be waived to make room for another two-way player conversion at or near the end of the season. Nevermind that!

“Just being a Curry, that superpower,” said Gui Santos as he closed out the podium at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

My favorite Seth bucket of the night? The one where he let the guy fly by, but the defender was still close, so he took one dribble closer into two-point territory and calmly dropped the middie.

That’s some unwavering confidence in an era where that move is almost frowned upon.

“He can light it up in a hurry,” said Steve Kerr. “One of the best shooters in the league.”

As for the plug-and-play nature, which we actually also saw back on his debut on December 2nd, one of only two other games Seth has played in this season until nerve sciatica hit (more on this below), Curry explained, “Early in my career, I was maybe not in a rotation, I could sit for a while and jump in and luckily start making shots, for whatever reason.

“Actually, a guy on the other team, who was it? I think Harkless. Yeah, Elijah Harkless, he was asking me, how you come in and make shots right away? Is it something you work on in the off-season? I actually do work on just trying to make shots cold, but somehow I’ve had a knack for coming in with no rhythm and being able to contribute and it’s something that helped me stick in the league.”

Reminds me of the times Kerr, over my decade of attending every one of his interviews, has told the story of he and Spurs assistant Chip Engelland working on a drill after practice. Steve would sit on the sideline for awhile, then suddenly get up and have to go make a jumper.

Friendly reminder: Steve is tops all-time with a .453 career three-point shooting percentage, but by comparison Seth (7th all-time) is .433, while one Wardell Stephen Curry is .422 (actually 14th all-time) and Klay Thompson (25th all-time) is .409. Sick!

Let’s hope that Engelland anecdote comes up again on the podium soon. It might mean that Seth just averaged a point per minute in the game they just played.

So the December 4th game, Curry only got up two shots, both misses, in that one-point loss in Philadelphia, accruing 14 minutes played. That kind of is an anvil in this three-game set, though. Overall, he’s 10-for-15 from the field and 4-for-7 on threes, with 6 assists, 5 rebounds and no turnovers.

Having fun with this small sample size, per 36 minutes, he’s currently averaging 22 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and even 2 steals, even with the “ofer” at Philly. Incidentally, scrolling through the per-36 leaders of the league, Klay currently leads the NBA with 4.8 threes made, per-36.

Full recaps and interviews, transcripts, and captions of Steve, Seth, and Gui from SLC, below. Be sure to check out Seth describing what happened with the sciatica…

Recap on Spotify: here

00:00 Steve, what aspect were you most disappointed in tonight?

00:08 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-UTA: I just never felt like we got control of them defensively. We, I mean, they scored 119 on us, 29 free throws. That can’t be the case. I mean, we talked about it before the game, taking away the easy stuff. They made 27 points from the line, so too much fouling, too many plays where we were at a disadvantage based on whatever was happening offensively. And then so they outscore us by 13 points at the free throw line, that’s the difference in the game.

00:43 What’d you make of your shot distribution tonight? (Inaudible)

00:46 I mean, we weren’t bad offensively. 31 assists, 10 turnovers, that’s a great ratio. We took care of the ball, we moved it. I didn’t think we got great looks, but we got enough good looks to win. It was our defense that led us down.

01:04 13 points and 12 minutes, just what did you make of (Seth Curry’s) debut?

01:07 Seth was great. It was really fun to have him out there and he can light it up in a hurry and great scoring threat, one of the best shooters in the league, so it was really nice to have him back.

01:19 Is the plan for him to play tomorrow, as well?

01:22 I don’t know.

01:25 This team’s been so good in the last couple weeks with just going out there and giving what they have. Are you concerned at all that because they lost to a team like this, that that might start them downward?

01:38 Nah, it’s a quick turnaround with Chicago tomorrow night and we gotta bounce back, so there’s — I’m not concerned about that. This is the NBA. You always have to be ready for the next one.

01:49 De’Anthony, seven minutes in the first half and obviously a bigger workload in the second. Was that part of the plan going in?

01:54 Yeah because he’s gonna play tomorrow. So we’re playing Melt for the first time on back-to-back and so we wanted to limit his minutes to 20 tonight. Thanks.

—

02:14 How did it feel to get back out there?

02:17 SETH CURRY: Felt great, felt great. Always helps when they give you a wide open shot for the — when you get in there, but been working hard this past however many months to try to get back. I ain’t know if I would make it back at all, but it’s good to get out there, get my feet wet and try to contribute in whatever way I can.

02:36 What were the last three months like for you? When did you first feel something was wrong? What did you kind of expect from rehab and recovery?

02:45 I mean, I don’t know exactly when I just popped out one morning, I couldn’t move at all. Like, so, it was like a month time where I couldn’t, like, I really couldn’t move. I was just laying at home and then just once the pain went away, I was able to rehab and try to get all my movement back, but it’s been tough, been tough. I mean, kinda got a taste of it a few months ago and then, once again, having to watch, but it’s tough. I feel I could have helped with all the injuries and all the stuff going on. I feel like I could have helped throughout the season to put us in a better spot, but it’s good to be out here and try to close this year positively and get better day by day.

03:27 Was it — so was it something that happened in the — ?

03:30 Nah, nah, nothing specific. I just felt — had a minor pain in my back. It just kept getting — got worse, worse, and then it just hit its tipping point. I didn’t do anything specific.

03:45 At what juncture did you develop confidence that had this thing is turning around and you’ll be back in the season?

03:51 I think over the All-Star Break. Over the All-Star Break, kind of made a jump. I was working on just continue to work in rehab and made a jump and came back and played some live action. And I feel like that’s why I knew I would be able to get back, eventually.

04:06 How long, just going back to times that, obviously, this injury is different, but how long does it take you usually to find the rhythm you need on the floor when you’re coming back?

04:16 Luckily, me, man, just my whole career, I’ve been a guy who could, sitting, like, early in my career, I was maybe not in a rotation, I could sit for a while and jump in and luckily start making shots, for whatever reason. Actually, a guy on the other team, who was it? I think Harkless. Yeah, Elijah Harkless, he was asking me, how you come in and make shots right away? Do you — is it something you work on in the off-season? I actually do work on just trying to make shots cold, but somehow I’ve had a knack for coming in with no rhythm and being able to contribute and it’s something that helped me stick in the league and get a chance, but so it’s still working for me.

04:58 How you feeling now?

04:59 Feel good, feel good. Made it through. I was a little nervous, obviously, with a back, you don’t know how you going get used to that pace and that contact, but I feel good and just try to recover and keep building.

05:11 Is the plan, as far as you know, for you to play tomorrow?

05:15 I’m not sure yet. I’m not sure yet. I’m sure I’ll talk to them after we get done here and get back and see what happens.

—

05:31 What did you think the biggest shift was tonight?

05:35 GUI SANTOS: I think in the beginning of the game we fouled too much, you know? And also by the end of the game we missed some import important free throws and that was the big difference. There is a lot of little stuff that we gotta figure out. We gotta do better, box out. We lost a couple rebounds. We could win more 50-50 balls and we didn’t, so I think that was the biggest thing that is stand out tonight.

05:59 What (inaudible) defense?

06:05 Say it again?

06:06 Utah (inaudible).

06:10 So I think, like, they didn’t not, like, really put stress on us offensively. I think that we were not putting stress on them defensively. Like, we were not defending well because we were finding a rhythm not so much, but we were kind of moving the ball and trying to find the best passes. But we could not get stops and that hurt us today. That was the biggest problem because some plays that we could not get stops, we foul them and they go to the line. That’s too easy points for them.

06:44 What gives you confidence that you guys be able to kind of flush this one, and go back to the way you’ve been playing (inaudible)?

06:52 I think it’s just the NBA, like, being in the NBA is like that. Like, you lose a tough one today, a game that you should win. Tomorrow, you just got another one and you gotta watch this one and go to the next one because you cannot change it, what happened. So for us, it’s just that. That hurts. It’s not good, lose a game like that. We know that we gotta win games like that, but we cannot change it now. We just gotta go to the next one and win the next one.

07:18 (Inaudible question about Seth)

07:20 That was good. That was good. It felt good. I remember a play that I drive, kinda like play pick-and-roll, drive and hit him in a corner. And I feel like he’s just never stopped playing basketball. He’d been out for a lot of time, but his first shot, he just made the first shot, then he got another one. Boom, he made it again, so he’s such a pro. I saw him working. He was working really hard to get back to be with us and now you can see that he was working. You saw him, the first two shots. He got it and he’s still playing well on defense, just being a Curry, that superpower.

🫶💙💛