There isn’t much that Stephen Curry has done on the basketball court that Ish Smith hasn’t already seen. As kids growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, Smith was the backup point guard on an AAU team led by Curry (see story).
But even with years of scouting and an innate sense of Curry’s game, Smith isn’t sure if he can stop him. In fact, he’s not sure anyone can.
“He could always shoot at a high level, but he’s at a different level right now,” Smith said of his former teammate.
Curry, the reigning NBA MVP for the champion Golden State Warriors, visit the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday evening (see game notes). Both Curry and his team are playing as well as any player or team in the history of the NBA this season. For the Warriors, the 42-4 record puts them on a pace to surpass the all-time record of 72 wins set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. That would be impressive enough, but the Warriors also beat the San Antonio Spurs by 30 points last week.
The Spurs, on pace to win 70 games this season, trailed the Warriors by 15 points at the half and by 29 points by the end of the third quarter in the blowout. Meanwhile, the Warriors beat the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers by 34 points the week before beating up on the Spurs.
If that’s the closest two of the best teams in the league have come against the Warriors, what chance do the Sixers have?
OK, don’t answer that.
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Curry, meanwhile, is on the way to another MVP award. He’s averaging 29.9 points, up by more than six points from last season, while shooting 51.1 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent from three-point range. He also is putting up 5.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game and shooting 91.4 percent from the foul line.
Curry has been so good this season that it’s actually shocking when he misses a shot. Moreover, players and coaches around the league are having serious discussions whether Curry is the greatest pure shooter ever to play in the NBA.
It’s a question that forces a lot of reflection and usually comes back with the same answer.
Sixers coach Brett Brown, who has worked with some good shooters in his coaching career, says Curry is the best he’s seen.
“I think if you asked me that, say four or five years ago, I would have said, ‘What a great shooter,’” Brown said. “Then about two years ago I would have said, ‘He’s got an amazing handle.’ His handle sets up his shot. And now I cannot believe his balance. I look at his feet. His pace of his game where it's like this cocky side of pace and gears. He can go from 80 (mph) to 10 back to 70 back down to 20, but his balance is off-the-charts great. I think his balance sets up his handle, which sets up his shot.”
Curry isn’t just a great situational shooter, like Ray Allen, Reggie Miller or Larry Bird, who all had a knack for hitting big shots late in the game or coming off screens. Actually, situations don’t matter for Curry.
Conceivably he is within his range when he crosses the half-court line and the time remaining in the game or the shot clock makes no difference.
If Curry has enough space, he can bury a shot.
“He’s not even at the three-point line and he’s a threat. He’s at hash mark in the middle of the floor and he’s just pulling up,” said Elton Brand, a 16-year NBA veteran, who has played with sharpshooters like B.J. Armstrong, Hersey Hawkins, Dirk Nowitzki and Kyle Korver. “The clock doesn’t matter. He’s playing the best ball of anybody this year.”
Finding a comparable player to Curry and the way he’s performing this season is also a tough task, Brand says. It might be better to take a couple of players and mix up their best attributes in order to best explain how good Curry has been this season.
“Like Steve Nash in his prime. He could score at any time, but he was getting dimes and even [Allen Iverson] in his prime and the way he was always attacking,” Brand said. “But his shooting ability is just uncanny. I can’t compare it to anybody the way he shoots and can dribble and attacks. It’s amazing.”
Defending Curry is a different matter altogether, as well. It might take some sort of divine intervention or serious weather event to keep Curry from scoring big against the Sixers on Saturday.
“You have to sprint,” Brand said about guarding Curry and the Warriors. “Run back and protect that three-point line. And don’t turn it over. If you turn it over, coach says, ‘Good luck.’ They will make you pay so much off of turnovers.”
Or good luck to the NBA in general. The Warriors are playing with a poise and swagger that makes a title defense look all but inevitable. They are so good, that even the opposition enjoys watching the Warriors play.
“The way they move the ball and play as a team, it’s incredible,” Brand said.