Getty Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors drew the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the playoffs, and plenty of national media members predicted the series to be close. In Game 1, the contest came down to the wire, but the Kings were able to hang on and pick up a win.
In the final moments, Stephen Curry had a chance to tie the game, as he broke loose for a floater three-point attempt. It clanked off the rim, and the Kings won the game, but it was a good look. After the game, Kings head coach and former Warriors assistant Mike Brown spoke about the play and what it’s like guarding Curry in that situation.
“Well, I mean, he’s capable of making any shot, and you just kind of hold your breath until that thing bounces off the rim,” Brown said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “It’s no secret we wanted to take away the three-point line, and that’s what we tried to do. But in the same breath, he’s so crafty that once he faced up, you had to try to contest but not to do it where you’re picking up a foul because if you foul him in that situation, we all know he’s making all three free throws. He’s about as good a free throw shooter in the history of the game as anyone. So, again, we guarded the three-point line. We did a fairly good job with it. He ended up breaking free at the last second. He had to rush taking that one-foot three-point shot which, at the end of the day, you got to live with as opposed to fouling him.”
Curry played a solid game against the Kings but just couldn’t get the final shot to go down. He finished the night with 30 points, six rebounds, and two assists on 11-of-20 shooting from the field and 6-of-14 shooting from behind the three-point line.
De’Aaron Fox Discusses Guarding Stephen Curry
After the game, Kings star De’Aaron Fox also had some words for Curry, discussing how difficult it is to have to guard him.
“Did you all see that clip with JR Smith talking about Delly guarding Steph? That sh— real,” Fox said, laughing, via the Kings’ official YouTube channel. “It’s real. I mean honestly I didn’t guard Steph the entire game, but most of the first quarter, most of the fourth quarter I guarded him. Yeah, that clip is real. Obviously, my team wants me to do things offensively. Mike [Brown] talked about it as soon as he got here, he’s not worried about what I can do offensively. He wants to see me be better defensively. And that’s something I want to take the challenge of doing. I think we’ve all seen it in spurts, but I want to do it throughout the course of a game. Playing 40 minutes and scoring 38 points is cool, but just trying to be as disruptive as possible while guarding the best player to ever shoot a basketball, not just off the catch but off the dribble. Guy’s probably one of the craftiest players to ever touch the ball. Just being able to be try and be disruptive for me is the biggest step and I think that’s kind of something that… I want to prove to myself that I can go out there and just try to hound some of the best guards in the league.”
Stephen Curry Praises De’Aaron Fox
Meanwhile, Curry also had some high praise for Fox and a couple of his teammates – Malik Monk and Trey Lyles – after the contest.
“I think for three quarters of the game, maybe a little bit more. Our defense was sound,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “We were moving fine all over the floor. Sticking to our game plan. Obviously, D-Fox hit some tough shots. Malik got going off the bench. Trey Lyles hit some big momentum threes. So, those are the kind of game- and the plays that got them back into it. But for the most part, I liked the way that we played. And if we can do that, again, with that level of execution, shore up some of our defensive rotations and looks to try to slow those guys down, I know we can shoot the ball better and rebound the ball better. So, if we can do those things, I like where we’re at, in terms of trying to- we got to win one in this building at least. So, why not Game 2?”
