Stephen Curry Sounds Off on 'Egregious' Defensive Tactics

It was a bit absurd on Saturday night, the way that Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was being defended by the Hornets. Just about everywhere Curry went, whether it was deep in the backcourt or bringing the ball up or trying to get free for a shot, he had a Charlotte defender glued to his hip, and sometimes two. It’s the kind of defense that sometimes gets thrown at Curry when he is hot during a playoff series, but not something typically seen in mid-January. It did not matter, of course. The Warriors have been on their best stretch of the season, and even with the Hornets limiting Curry to 12 shots (he made six shots for 14 points), Golden State still dominated the game, 136-116. And that also came with Jimmy Butler a late scratch for a personal injury. In all, eight Warriors scored in double figures, with De’Anthony Melton scoring 24 and Draymond Green scoring 20. Said Green after the game: “They were just kind of leaving us open. They were using all five guys to take Steph out the game. … We made them pay for playing gimmicky defense.” Warriors Took Advantage of Stephen Curry Attention Curry, of course, has seen all sorts of defensive wrinkles in his time. The Warriors star said he had to fight the urge to play through the defense but instead used the extra attention to get his teammates going. Here’s how Curry sized up what happened: “There’s a part of you that like fights it just because it’s not real basketball. But there’s also a part of it that it’s flattering. Just knowing that you demand that much attention, and also what it does to create shots for other guys on the floor. So, and I’ve seen it all, so I know if that’s how they wanna guard, how I can be effective, not letting it take me out of the game, but also use it to our advantage as a team. “It’s also funny at times just how egregious it is. There was one possession, I need the footage, I actually stayed back in the backcourt a long time on purpose to see how long Sion would stay with me. So that was a fun one.” Dubs Have ‘The Most Momentum’ The win was the third straight for Golden State, who last lost back-to-back games on December 18, and that dropped the Warriors to 13-15. Since then, even with the ongoing drama around the Jonathan Kuminga trade demand, the Warriors have gone 11-4 to move to 24-19, within 2.0 games of the No. 5 seed in the West. Said coach Steve Kerr: “This is the most momentum we’ve had since we started 4-1.”