How good were Stephen Curry and Chris Paul in the shootout between the Clippers and Warriors last night?
It’s almost impossible to be hyperbolic, both about the performances and the players themselves.
Don’t believe me? Try this one on for size: Stephen Curry is the best shooter of all-time.
You’re squirming, aren’t you? It doesn’t sit right. You’re thinking it can’t possibly be true, not yet, not with every great player that has played this game. You’re running through names in your head right now. Larry Bird? Steve Nash? It can’t be Curry.
But then you look. The records are already falling at his feet. You play with the numbers, look deeper and see that Curry is only one of two players to have a career true shooting percentage over 58 percent, a three-point percentage over 44 percent and a career field-goal percentage over 46 percent. By all the important measures, he’s been elite.
And then you see a guy like Steve Kerr listed right next to Curry on that list. Great shooter, Kerr was. One of the best. But then you remember, there is no Michael Jordan creating for Curry. There are no wide open spot-up threes to feast on. Kerr was shooting fish out of a barrel -- Curry can’t even see what he’s aiming at half of the time.
And you know what? Everyone knows what he wants to do. He gets every team’s best defender and the full undivided attention of defenses every night. Coaches say, “Make him put it on the floor. Make anyone else beat us.” And then what? He pulls up from 27 feet with a hand in his face and woosh, there goes the ball through the net, and there goes your gameplan.
There’s nothing in the world like watching someone at the peak of their craft doing what they do best. Basketball just happens to be one of the more enjoyable crafts, and that’s what made Curry’s battle with Paul so enthralling. Different styles make for great fights, and that’s what was happening here.
It was actually Paul who dominated in between the lines, using his quick hands to fluster Curry to no end. The turnovers for Curry piled up quick, and Paul was relentless with his pressure on both ends. But once Curry put the ball in the air? All bets were off.
In typical Paul fashion, though, what could be controlled was controlled. The Warriors threw an underrated defender in Klay Thompson at him. No dice. Then they threw maybe the league’s best defender in Andre Iguodala at him, too, and yet still, Paul’s greatness shined through every crack in the Warriors defense.
Paul was more than beating his man – he was exploiting him. This was John Stockton with a streak for scoring, with the same flair for a well-timed flop, with the same nastiness that allows a 6-foot-1 guy to plant a forearm in the chest of a giant and rather ornery Australian man on a cross-screen.
This was two stars in the prime of their careers turning the other eight players on the court into unintelligible blurs. You watched Paul, and then you watched Curry, and everything else was a distraction. Paul, then Curry. Curry, then Paul. And back and forth it went until it came to a close, all while you were wishing that it didn’t have to stop so soon.
—D.J. Foster
Bulls 82, Knicks 81: This was a sloppy early season game with a lot of turnovers, missed shots and missed defensive assignments — but it was close at the end and it certainly had plenty of drama. Derrick Rose missed nine of his first 11 shots and was 7-of-23 on the night, but the seventh make was a beautiful floater with five seconds left that won the Bulls the game. So he gets a few things forgiven, like the fact he is 11-of-38, or 28.9 percent, through two games. Carmelo Anthony had 22 points but needed 24 shots to get there and he was awful from the midrange (4-of-14).
Clippers 126, Warriors 115: I now will spend the rest of the season rooting for these two teams to meet in the playoffs — I want seven games between these guys. This was just fun. Chris Paul decided not to let the Clippers lose — 42 points, 15 assists, 6 steels. As long as they have kept the steal stat (1974) nobody has had a stat line like that with 6 steals in a game. Stephen Curry had 38 points and 9 assists, he was 9-of-14 from three. He hit two threes from somewhere on Figueroa Street outside the building.
In the end it was Curry’s 11 turnovers and 24 for the Warriors as a team that did them in — turnovers against the Clippers leads to fast break alley-oops, the Lob City show and a lot of momentum for L.A. But I really just want these teams to meet in the playoffs. Come on basketball gods make it happen.