How is Stephen Curry STILL the HARDEST Player to Guard in the NBA?!

Is there a man who can stop Stephen Curry right now? I mean you can’t even blink when you’re guarding him. Look at Chef Curry right here. He’s being guarded by Anthony Edwards all the way from half-court. When Curry came across, he approached Green for a screen against Edwards. Curry absolutely abusing the pick-and-roll against Rivers. Rivers reaction says it all. How…? Just how can you stop this man? Why is Stephen Curry so ridiculously hard to guard? Steph Curry’s cooking show frequently features the top defenders of the league. Now to be fair, Austin Rivers is not an elite defender. So, how does Curry perform against great defenders? Let’s try to break down how Curry performs against last year’s top 5 defensive player of the year finalists: number 1: Marcus Smart, number 2: Mikal Bridges, number 3: Rudy Gobert, number 4: Bam Adebayo, and number 5: Jaren Jackson Jr. So first off, let’s start with one of the bigs, Jaren Jackson Jr. Jackson Jr decided to double-team Steph, and with his size and length covering Steph, Steph got forced to pass the ball to Green. When Curry passed the ball, Jackson Jr. froze for a second, while Curry never stopped moving to get open for an easy three. Curry’s eyes directly look straight toward Jackson. He notices that Jackson is too low to guard him in the event Jackson switches. Curry gets a screen and a handoff, and since Jackson is too far, you already know. It’s like Curry already knew what was about to happen. In another clip right here, it’s still coming off from a screen, but this time it’s a one-on-one situation, then with a bit of push-off and a step back to create space, Curry drains it again in front of Jackson. OFFICIALLY. COOKED. Next is Mikal Bridges. Bridges, a 6-foot-6 guard with a 7-foot-1 wingspan, had the most usage matchups last season, meaning his defense causes a ball handler to terminate the possession via a field-goal attempt, free-throw attempt, or turnover. Now, let’s talk about Marcus Smart. We all know Smart is the reigning defensive player of the year, but we saw enough in last year’s finals. Last year, Curry officially cooked Marcus Smart in all possible ways, may it be off-ball, on-ball, in transition, and even on One-on-Ones. Smart just couldn't stop Curry. This man shut down KD, Irving, and Giannis. And plus, Boston as a whole is fantastic defensively, but still, Curry averaged 31.2 Points-per-game and 43.7% from 3, which is insane! But man, you can't expect Smart to guard Steph the same way. I couldn’t agree more to what Marcus Smart said: “We all know what he can do outside of 20 feet, 30 to 35, 40 feet. The dude is special in that regard. The way that he’s able to affect the game, being able to run around and play off the ball and get himself open. It’s just tough on a defender because you can’t take a break. The instant that you think he’s not doing anything, the play’s over for him, and that’s when you get beaten, that’s when you get burnt. That’s when that mentality comes in that you gotta stay ready, you can’t give up. You gotta keep going.” “So, for him, he can affect the game at all levels — passing, playmaking, shooting the ball, scoring the ball. So, he got the whole package and you have to be able to guard every last thing he has, and not many players can do that" Stephen Curry always catches any opposing team off guard — despite these opponents having seen him do his thing several times in the past. There’s just no perfect method to capture the madness and completely bottle it up. Not when Curry always finds a way to burn defenses with his multi-dimensional wizardry, both with the ball in his hands and without it. The agony of guarding Curry, as well as the sense of uneasiness that he always instills in defenders, is endless. Regardless of how he shoots on any given night, defenders are forced to rush him on screening plays, relying on the disciplined backline defense to pick up the slack and overcome a disadvantageous scenario. If you get distracted even for a split second, Curry will punish you with a long-range three. Overall, his off-ball movement and real-time decision-making skills epitomize everything that makes him great – not just from a shooting standpoint but from an everything standpoint. Thanks for watching and as always, until next time. #stephencurry #stephcurry #nba

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