Lack of shots not a problem for Warriors' stars

OAKLAND - One basketball wasn’t supposed to be enough for Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. At least that’s what NBA naysayers said when the trio decided to join forces in the Hamptons back in July.

Somebody was going to take a major shot-attempts hit. Hurt feelings were possibly going to ensue. Resentment was sure to rear its ugly head. All three players were possibly going to suffer as elite shot-makers trying to make a three-headed scoring monster work.

But as the Warriors near the quarter-pole of the season, nothing could be further from the truth. Three definitely has not been a crowd in the scoring column of the Golden State box score. Curry, Durant and Thompson have shared the shot-taking - and shot-making - so seamlessly and democratically, it’s almost as if they’re keeping careful count of each other’s numbers as they go.

In the Warriors’ 12th consecutive victory Monday night, a 105-100 grinder against the Atlanta Hawks, Thompson took 18 shots, Curry took 17 and Durant 16. That even left 35 shots for the rest of the team, and Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala fired up nine apiece. That’s pretty indicative of the way it’s gone since Day 1.

For the season so far, Curry has taken 320 shots, Durant 305 and Thompson 300. You can’t get much more egalitarian than that. In 18 games, they already have scored 20 or more in a game together eight times, and not surprisingly, the Warriors are 8-0 in those games.

Coach Steve Kerr predicted early on that Durant, Curry and Thompson would all probably take a few shots from each other, and that has been the case. But it also has been negligible. Curry and Durant are taking roughly two fewer shots this year than last season; Thompson a little less than one fewer.

But even the supporting cast, which was really supposed to be affected by Durant’s arrival, isn’t getting shut out, either. Green averaged 10.1 shots last year and is at 8.8 this year. Iguodala averaged 5.7 shots last season; he’s at 5.2 this season. In short, everybody’s sacrificing a little. Nobody’s suffering a lot. End result: 16-2 record.

Here’s a rather amusing kicker to it all: Harrison Barnes, who supposedly was proof there wasn’t room for a third volume scorer on the Warriors, is averaging more shot attempts per game in Dallas than Durant, Curry or Thompson are with Golden State. None of the Warriors’ trio is in the top 10 in the NBA in shot attempts even though they are all averaging more than 20 points a game.

“Who cares who shoots?” said Durant after the latest three-ply-20. “Our offense is so free-flowing that the ball is going to find the open guy. So if you move and get open, you’re going to get shots. We’re going to be aggressive and play for each other and make the right play. Some nights I might have it and some nights Klay or Steph might have it, but I don’t think anyone cares who shoots more shots.”

That hot-hand night has already happened for all three players. Curry’s highest shot number is 26, in a game against New Orleans on Nov. 7 in which he made a league-record 13 3-pointers and scored 46 points. Durant’s high shot number has been 24, against his old Oklahoma City team, and he made 15 of those en route to a 39-point night. Thompson’s highs are two 21-shot games, and he made 11 and 12 baskets, respectively, in those games.

Another development: While they might be taking slightly fewer shots, they’re getting better shots and making more. Durant is shooting 57.0 percent, an astounding six percent higher than the best season of his previous nine in the NBA. Thompson, despite a horrible start from distance, is nonetheless shooting 47.7 percent now, a career best. Curry is at 49.4 percent, just off his career high of 50.4 set in his second MVP season a year ago.

So why is this working so darned well so quickly, aside from the fact that that all three players are such supremely talented scorers?

“Because they’re good playmakers as well, and they like making plays for each other,” Kerr said. “They’re conscientious about getting each other involved. They’re incredibly unselfish players and that’s what makes it so satisfying. And it’s not forced at all.”

Curry has said that in the preseason and the first few regular-season games, that perhaps there was a little bit too much deferring among each of the three players to the other two, but now the shots are just coming evenly so naturally, and despite the way it might look on the stat ledger, nobody’s counting.

“Nobody really dominates the ball when you move it,” Curry said. “When we’re clicking, we move it really well and everybody gets touches on every possession. Our M.O. is that if you move the ball and set screens for each other, move bodies, somebody’s going to get a good look. And with us, we don’t have to force-feed anybody. The flow just happens, and whoever that open guy is at the end of a possession, we have confidence in that person to knock the shot down.”

Thompson is perhaps the most gratified to see it all come together so nicely. Perhaps fearing of becoming a distant third wheel, he pronounced at season’s outset that he wasn’t going to sacrifice his game or give up shots with Durant in the mix, and he hasn’t. He has taken at least 13 shots in every game this year and is averaging 16.7 shots per game. Last year, he averaged 17.2. Again, negligible, and Klay credits Durant for that.

“His game doesn’t require to be ball dominant,” he said. “I think he could fit into any system he’s asked to be in.”

As for himself and his initial declaration, Thompson smiled thinly and said, “You know, my teammates always make fun of me and say I’m thirsty for shots and people said it was going to change when Kevin came. I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t sacrificing. but we’re still a great team. So I’m not complaining. Shots will come and go, makes and misses will come and go, but when you’re consistently winning, it trumps everything.”