Steph maintains selfless attitude amid limited Team USA opportunities

Steph maintains selfless attitude amid limited Team USA opportunities originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Warriors superstar Steph Curry is still finding his rhythm in his first Olympic appearance, but he remains optimistic about Team USA.

Curry, the best shooter the sport has ever seen, shot just three times in the Americans’ 122-87 win over Brazil on Tuesday, finishing with seven points and one rebound in nearly 17 minutes.

But the 3-point king remains selfless about getting limited opportunities on the court and instead focuses on doing what it takes to help the team in their pursuit of gold.

“A big part of my job on this team is to get exposure and create opportunities for other guys,” Curry said after the game (h/t The San Francisco Chronicle’s Ron Kroichick ). “I don’t get a lot of that. So as long as I keep cutting hard and playing without the ball, we have so many great passers, great finishers, great shooters, somebody’s going to have a good chance.”

After dropping 11 points in his Olympic debut, Curry finished with three points against South Sudan and eight points against Puerto Rico, respectively.

Against South Sudan, Curry made a layup with seven minutes left in the game. It was his only bucket of the game. The 36-year-old was 1-of-9 from the field and missed all six of his 3-point attempts.

Three days later, he showed his skills early in Team USA’s convincing victory over Puerto Rico. He scored five points in the first quarter, but his performance slowed in the second. He eventually scored eight, but was benched in the fourth quarter.

Curry didn’t shoot poorly on Tuesday, mainly because he didn’t fire many shots.

But his impact, as he himself has testified, goes beyond what can be found on a stat sheet. Curry’s mere presence is a threat on the court, and his off-ball moves create openings for himself and others.

In the second quarter, Curry jumped free — just one second — after a screen by Jrue Holiday and threw a closely contested 3-pointer, drawing a foul and botching all of his free throws.

His other points came from open layups, both off passes from LeBron James.

“That’s the beauty and the strength of our team, that it can be any one of those guys,” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said (h/t Joe Vardon of The Athletic ). “They all have to carry their franchises individually when they come back to the NBA. So we know they’re capable of carrying our team on any given day, but we don’t know who it’s going to be, and that’s the strength of the team.”

Curry again had little impact on Team USA’s scoring on Tuesday.

But the Americans and their depth proved once again that they can destroy the opposition no matter what.

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