Stephen Curry: Defense Called in to Question Despite Five Steal Performance

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant haven’t been too impressed with Stephen Curry’s defense despite the stats proving he is more than capable.

The Golden State Warriors were able to live to fight another day. After falling down 3-1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder, a deficit only nine playoff teams have overcome, the Warriors were able to defend their home court, bringing the series to 3-2 in the Thunder’s favor.

The Warriors looked much more like the 73-win team we have come to know this season. However, there were still many things that needed to be cleaned up if they wish to extend this series to a seventh and final game.

The Warriors defense was stout, forcing the Thunder to shoot just 42.9 percent from the field. They were also able to come up with 13 steals and seven blocks, which they capitalized on many times down the stretch.

Stephen Curry had five steals on the night, including a late pick of Kevin Durant’s pocket near the end of the game, yet, both Durant and teammate Russell Westbrook seem to not think much of the back-to-back- MVP’s defense.

Michelle Steele of ESPN asked Durant if he believes Curry is an underrated defender. As soon as Steele finished her question, Westbrook laughed at the thought of Curry’s defense.

“Getting steals, that’s a part of playing defense. He’s pretty good but he doesn’t guard the best point guards,” Durant answered, “I think they do a good job of putting a couple of guys on Russell from [Klay] Thompson to [Andre] Iguodala. And Steph, they throw him in there sometimes.

“He moves his feet pretty well, he’s good with his hands, but I like our match-up with him guarding Russ.”

This caused quite the stir within Dub Nation and led to a little bit of digging, and apparently, Curry is winning the defensive match-up against Westbrook in this series.

When Curry is guarding Westbrook, he is a combined 8-for-25 from the field, shooting 32 percent. However, when any other Warrior defender is on him Russ is shooting 32-for-84, 44 percent. The counter argument to this could be that is because Curry hasn’t guarded him that much, we are working with a small sample size, however 25 attempts is still a decent amount. In game five alone, Westbrook was 0-for-3 when Curry was defending him.

More from Golden Gate Sports

The reason Curry is not the primary defender most of the time isn’t because he can’t hold is own against him. He is perfectly capable of doing so. However, there are a couple factors that may contribute to Steph not being matched up with Westbrook all that often.

The first, and perhaps most obvious, is that Westbrook is much more athletic than Curry. Steph has been able to defend the more athletic guards in the league before, but Westbrook is arguably the most athletic point guard this league has ever seen. Putting Curry on Westbrook for a full 48-minutes puts the Warriors at a disadvantage.

Secondly, we have to look at Curry’s knee sprain as a possible reason for the limited time guarding Westbrook. It is no secret that Curry is not at 100 percent health; he himself said so recently. He wouldn’t put a number on it, but some speculate that he may be closer to 70 percent. Therefore, it makes sense to limit the number of chances Westbrook has on Curry, so that Curry can be most effective on the offensive end.

“I got a great teammate that’s obviously a better defender on the perimeter. I like the challenge. I’ll do my job the best I can. That’s what I’m out there to do, so in those situations I don’t get too caught up in the one-on-one match-ups,” Curry said regarding the comments from Durant, “My job is to follow the gameplan. I’ve done that the last four years of my career trying to elevate my defensive presence and do my job.”

Next: Golden State Warriors Small When Their Best Was Needed

Curry has done just that. This season he led the league in steals and has improved his steals per game nearly every year of his career. This season alone, Curry has held opponents to 36.1 percent shooting from 20-24 feet and 34.6 percent shooting from 15-19 feet.

Someone might want to tell Russell that Curry’s defense is nothing to laugh at.

Home/Golden State Warriors