Stephen Curry has picked up pretty much where he left off last season, and that's a great sign for the Golden State Warriors.
Curry is in an early groove entering Golden State's Saturday night road game against the Charlotte Hornets.
"He has been spectacular here to start the year," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "He really never falls out of shape. The challenge comes for him, just like everybody. The whole accumulation of games takes a toll."
This is the annual homecoming game for Curry, who lived in Charlotte for more than two decades. It comes earlier this season than usual. In no way does he consider this year's return as any kind of farewell.
"I'm stubborn enough to think that I can do this for a lot more years," he said.
The Hornets won't be in such a good mood after taking a 113-93 road loss against the Orlando Magic on Friday.
"We have to get to an intensity level, a purpose level offensively where we know what we have to do so we don't give so many possessions away," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said.
The offensive snags were so extreme that the Hornets had only 30 points in the first half -- the lowest total before halftime by an NBA team this season.
The problems for Charlotte were multifaceted. In short, the Hornets didn't adjust to Orlando's defensive tactics.
"An inability to function offensively against their switching," Clifford said. "They have a lot of size, and they did a good job with it. To this point, we've done a good job against teams that have switched a lot. You've got to be able to function against that particular defense."
That type of production -- or lack thereof -- isn't likely to cut it against the Warriors. There is not much time for the Hornets to fix those problems as they play their first back-to-back set of the season.
Curry was back in the Charlotte area during the offseason for a commencement ceremony to note his graduation from Davidson. This matchup always brings an additional buzz to the Charlotte arena.
The Warriors will be beginning a five-game road trip and playing the first night of their own back-to-back games, with a contest at Detroit to come on Sunday.
"You want to carry some momentum onto the road because you know it's going to be tough," Kerr said.
The Warriors posted a 123-110 home victory on Thursday against the Miami Heat.
"Obviously, the shots went down, but it's more the energy we create on the defensive end," said Curry, who had 33 points.
The player rotation has been a mixture for Golden State. Part of that is having different players on the court with Curry to keep opponents from getting comfortable with the same combinations.
"We've done that in the last two games," Kerr said. "It breaks up our combination a little bit and gives us a better mix of youth and veterans, and we'll probably keep doing that for the time being and see how that goes. ...
"We always have to have the big picture in mind and pace our guys through the regular season."
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