You’ll be shocked to learn that a debate broke out on the Internet Wednesday. And the debate was about whether Stephen Curry has succeeded when facing fellow elite point guards in the playoffs.
We made a chart to sort it out.
In 2013, Curry played to a veritable draw with Tony Parker in the second round. In 2014, he outplayed legend Chris Paul in the first round despite the Clippers picking up the series win in seven tough games. Miraculously, Curry’s title run in 2015 featured just one elite point guard opponent, Mike Conley, who had a broken face around that time. But Curry smoked Conley, whatever the case.
For 2016, we left out elite point guard Damian Lillard because Curry played just two games in that series. While Curry’s per-game numbers were spectacular and the Warriors won the series, it didn’t seem fair to either to include it. (Likewise, we left out Kyrie Irving’s one game in 2015.)
The other series in which Curry faced elite point guards in 2016? Holy moly were those some series. Curry vs. Russell Westbrook in that 7-game slobberknocker is a Rorschach test for how you feel about shooting efficiency vs. overall production. Westbrook was less efficient shooting the ball in that series, but almost doubled Curry’s assists and averaged almost four steals. (Both averaged four turnovers, too.) I’ll take Westbrook by a hair (hence the verdict of "slightly anguished Steph emoji"), but I won’t begrudge any judge who rules differently.
The 2016 Finals against Kyrie? Steph had better just plea out of that one and move along.
So there you have it. Steph Curry against elite point guards in the playoffs? Pretty good, except for that time Kyrie Irving beat him like a bass drum.
