In very simple terms, Golden State has taken Lee’s touches and given them to Curry, unleashing him as something much closer to a full-time off-the-dribble force. And as it turns out, most standard NBA defenses are simply not equipped to deal with an off-the-dribble player who can shoot 45 percent from 3-point range. The change has crystallized against the Spurs, who haven’t been as committed as Denver to trying to take the ball from Curry’s hands with aggressive traps out toward midcourt; Curry dribbled the ball more in both Game 1 and Game 2 of this series than in any of the approximately 60 prior games recorded by SportVU data-tracking cameras installed at Golden State’s home arena and 14 other arenas this season, per data provided exclusively to Grantland. He has held the ball for nearly three more full minutes per game over those two games than he did on average in the regular season, a massive change for a player who controlled the ball, on average, about 5:20 per game this season, according to the data.
Want more? Only about 14 percent of possessions Curry finished in the regular season came on isolation plays, per Synergy Sports. That share is up to 29 percent — a Carmelo Anthony/Kobe Bryant level — so far in the playoffs, and a lot of those isolations actually come after pick-and-rolls that draw switches or otherwise bend the defense just a bit first. He’s orchestrating about 30 pick-and-rolls per game, up from about 18 on average in the regular season, according to the camera data. And he’s absolutely letting it fly off the dribble; Curry jacked about 6.3 off-the-bounce jumpers in the regular season, but he’s launching nine per game so far in the playoffs. Curry is jacking nine 3-pointers per game in the playoffs, a record for any player who has logged at least 300 postseason minutes; only Mookie Blaylock really came close to launching at this rate.