Russell Westbrook doesn’t seem to think Stephen Curry is special.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Oklahoma City Thunder point guard made light of what his Golden State Warriors counterpart has done and can do on the basketball court.
Westbrook asked about his preparation and scouting for Steph: "He's a shooter. He's not nothing I haven't seen." pic.twitter.com/00D6lHEWbs
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) May 16, 2016
Westbrook added:
“Him (Curry), Lillard, guys like that can shoot the basketball from four or five feet behind the three, you gotta do a little different job,” Westbrook added. “Just be physical.”
Now, as good as Damian Lillard is, to put Curry in the same class is just disrespectful. As good as the young Portland Trailblazers point guard is, he’s still a long ways off from sniffing what Curry has accomplished in his career.
Just this past season, Curry — just “a shooter” — shattered the NBA record for most three-pointers in a season (402), led his team to the NBA’s all-time record for wins in a single season and won his second NBA MVP award in a row — unanimously.
He’s also owned Westbrook in the three games they’ve played this season against one another (more on that here) and is coming off one of the most spectacular postseason performances in league history a couple of games ago.
Westbrook might not have intended for his remark to be a slight against Curry, but they are. It’s going to be interesting to see if Curry shows up tonight a bit more fired up than usual in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.