A shooter (Curry) talks about confidence

Stephen Curry is in something of a shooting slump, largely because of a sprained ankle that is now pretty much healed. But Curry had the ankle in the back of his mind Saturday as he shot 6-for-23 against Butler, including 2-of-13 from behind the arc. He started that game zero-for-8 from the floor, and at some point, you can't help thinking about that next shot...

"If you don't make your first couple, you definitely start thinking a little bit," he said. "You try not to as much as possible but that's natural. I don't think it translated too far down the stretch in the game; I do have a short memory no matter what. But you start thinking and playing mind games with yourself, like 'what am I going to do differently on the next shot?'

"I thought that happened a little bit."

Curry complimented Butler's defensive effort.
"They stay between you and the basket and make you make a play, and their help defense is pretty remarkable. It forces you to be disciplined and make easy plays, and if you get an open shot, you've got to take it and you've got to make it. We didn't do that."

Curry will try it again on Wednesday night against UNC Greensboro in Belk Arena, and should be 100 percent healthy. He said he was "in the high 90s" on Saturday.

"I guess when you come off an injury like that, you don't want to push it too hard," he said. "You don't want to make a sharp sudden movement for fear it's going to hurt. That's probably why I wasn't 100 percent. I thought my ankle held up well."--Stan Olson