The Super Splash Brothers

The Super Splash Bros.

  By Jordan Santos

            Shooting a basketball is one of the most elementary actions in all of sport. As some people who don’t know much about basketball like to put it, “It’s just putting the ball through the hoop isn’t it?” This statement is completely true, but it does not accurately reflect the level of skill and precision it takes to score off a jump shot, especially with adefender like LeBron James breathing down your neck. However, if you want to see a pair of sharp shooters who resemble something out of the Wild West, than look no further than the Golden State Warrior’s Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry a.k.a. “The Super Splash Brothers.”

            The unique situation regarding Curry and Thompson is that they are one of the youngest starting backcourts in the NBA.Not only that, but they are both sons of former NBA stars Dell Curry and former number one overall pick Mychal Thompson. What is an even bigger shocker is that Curry (age 25) and Thompson (age 23) are both in the top 25 all-time list for three point shooting percentage during the regular season. Stephen Curry is number two overall with a 3FG percentage of (44.6%) and Klay Thompson is number twenty four overall with a 3FG percentage of (40.6%)! In fact, Curry and Thompson are the only two guards on that list who have shared the same backcourt!

            Curry and Thompson both had breakout seasons this year. Curry was the more exceptional of the two and had his “coming out party” game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden where he dropped 54 points and went 11 of 13 from three-point range! Though, it wasn’t just his three-point shooting that was responsible for one of the best scoring performances in the Garden, it was his complete game. That day the sports world witnessed Stephen Curry not only dominate from the perimeter, but also making his presence felt in the paint with buckets at the rim. That game made sports fans make a double take and say “Curry just did what?! Damn I gotta see more of that cat!”

Entering the playoffs as a sixth seed, not many people and sports analysts predicted them to make it past the first round. After the Warriors beat the Nuggets in six games, people started to take them seriously. Let’s take a look at their numbers during these playoffs. Stephen Curry shot 39.6%from three-point range while putting up a playoff high 106 three-pointers. The only person who shot close to as many threes as Curry was his sidekick Thompson, who shot 59 three-pointers and hit 42.4% of them. That’s insane!

            Unfortunately for the Warriors, they ran into a brick wall called the San Antonio Spurs and lost in six games. But what impressed me the most about Golden State’s playoff run was how heavy of a load Curry and Thompson put on themselves to make sure their team stayed competitive. Most marksmen like Curry and Thompson are spot-up shooters who specialize in camping and knocking down the three because they can’t create their own shot.

Remember the Steve Kerr and Kyle Korver types of the league who solely relied on hitting wide-open threes? No longer is that the case in the league! The Splash Brothers are a completely different breed of pure shooter because they can create their own shots off of the dribble.

            After the Warriors game 2 win over the Denver Nuggets, Warriors coach Mark Jackson stated that Curry and Thompson are the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game. At first I had to think about his comments and put them in perspective because when you talk about the history of the NBA you got to do your homework. Though, when you go back into the history books you can’t find a backcourt with better sharpshooters than Curry and Thompson.

            Take a second and think about what backcourt would be their biggest competition. What about Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott¸ the backcourt that Curry and Thompson passed on their way to a record-breaking 483 made three-pointers?Though, one can point out that Anderson and Scott had an unfair advantage in having a 22-year old man-child in Shaquille O’Neal to create open shots. Some people like to point to the historic combo of Jerry West and Gail Goodrich of the legendary Lakers back when Wilt Chamberlain was dominating the game. The biggest problem with this is that West and Goodrich played in an era without a three-point line. Also, West and Goodrich had the luxury of playing along Wilt Chamberlain, the most dominant offensive player in NBA history! Curry and Thompson don’t have any of these luxuries!

What about a more recent comparison like Steve Nash and Joe Johnson back when Nash was winning his back-to-back MVPs. Though when you check the leaderboard for three-point percentage, Steve Nash is number eight on the list and Joe Johnson is nowhere to be found. Thus, it seems that Mark Jackson wasn’t that far off in his comments. Maybe the best comparison would be to imagine Reggie Miller and Ray Allen in the same backcourt at the same time.

            The Super Splash Brothers had a ground-breaking season that NBA historians will raise their eyebrows to for many years to come. The duo hit 483 three-pointers, which broke the NBA record for teammates hitting threes, while shooting nearly 43 percent! That is literally unheard of. Curry had the most spectacular season in three-point history as he broke Reggie Miller’s record by nailing 270 three-pointers in a single season. Stephen Curry is also the only player in NBA history with 250 threes and 500 assists in a single season, to score 50 points and make over ten threes in a single game, and the only player in NBA history to have five games of 35 points and seven three-pointers!

So don’t question why Curry and Thompson are being labeled as the “Super Splash Bros.” or the greatest shooting backcourt in history because they literally make the NBA look like a video game!

-          Jordan Santos for “ON THE SIDELINES” on 1talknetwork.com