Fraser, Kerr downplay Steph’s midseason fatigue, shooting struggles

Fraser, Kerr downplay Steph’s midseason fatigue, shooting struggles originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Steph Curry is human after all, contrary to popular belief.

The superstar point guard has kept the Warriors afloat throughout a roller coaster 2023-24 NBA season, and with 25 games remaining, might be feeling the effects from, sometimes, having to carry the team on his back.

In speaking to reporters after Golden State’s 119-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday at Chase Center, Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted that Curry had “looked tired” as of late, potentially leading to shooting struggles against the Charlotte Hornets last Friday and the Nuggets.

Curry struggled again in the Warriors’ 123-112 win over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, chipping in 18 points on 6-of-21 shooting from the field and 4 of 16 from 3-point range.

Warriors assistant coach Bruce Fraser joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” on Wednesday, where he was asked by Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky about Curry’s perceived “fatigue.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s fatigue,” Fraser said. “With him sometimes that matters, sometimes not. Usually, you see his fatigue in his decision-making, like it affects his decisions out there more than his shot. But he’s human, you don’t see it too often. But he is human. He didn’t have his best shooting night the past couple games, but you as an opponent don’t want that to happen with Steph.

“Like you don’t go into the next game saying ‘Oh good, Steph Curry missed it the last couple games, we’re going to be good.’ He’s one of those guys that doesn’t like missing shots, so the next game is always like uh oh, watch out.”

Kerr joined 95.7 The Game’s “Willard & Dibs” Wednesday night and was asked about his previous comments about Curry looking “tired” and explained why he’s not concerned about the 35-year-old moving forward.

“I’m not concerned about it,” Kerr told Mark Willard & Marc Grandi. “I just think that if you look at every season there’s going to be spells where Steph doesn’t shoot it as well as he normally does, that’s just part of it. 82 games and we’ve had a lot of games lately. The All-Star break was not much of a break for Steph, he had to go to Indianapolis and take part in all of the festivities, so I think it’s just a natural time of the year for him to be a little fatigued and I think it has shown, but like I said, this is not unusual and I have no doubt that he’ll bounce back quickly.”

Even if Curry’s shooting struggles are due to fatigue, history has shown time and time again that his dry spells are temporary, oftentimes leading to an explosion or two against one of the unfortunate teams slated to play against the Warriors in an upcoming game.

“I don’t want to make any predictions, but with Steph, I’ve seen this show before where he doesn’t have a great game and then all of a sudden the next one he’s back at it,” Fraser added. “I wouldn’t contribute fatigue as much as there’s a human element to this and he’s always capable of having a big night.”

The Warriors’ road trip continues with a matchup against the New York Knicks on Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Ironically, the venue where Curry broke the NBA’s all-time 3-point record two-plus years ago. Coincidence?

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