Warriors’ Stephen Curry steps up on defense

OAKLAND — Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams learned just how much Stephen Curry desired to be great in one of their first conversations.

Adams was observing an August USA Basketball practice in Chicago when Curry approached his new coach and humorously offered a quick suggestion to the 67-year-old defensive guru.

“Watch my defense today,” Curry said.

Curry has carried that mindset with him into the season and shown that he can stand out on defense even though it’s his offensive talents that have earned him star status.

Curry not only is among the NBA’s leaders in steals, but he also has taken on the challenge of guarding opposing point guards and has held fellow All-Stars Damian Lillard and Chris Paul in check.

The league has begun to notice that Curry is no defensive liability. Kobe Bryant pointed to that when asked if Los Angeles Lakers point guard Jeremy Lin had taken a step back after he was held scoreless in a loss to the Warriors last week.

“Well I mean, Curry is a handful, man,” Bryant said. “He’s tough.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said afterward the only thing he learned about his backcourt that he hadn’t realized as a broadcaster was how Curry could defend at such a high level.

“I knew he was better defensively than people gave him credit for, but honestly, what he’s done this year at that end is remarkable,” said Kerr, who noticed from the broadcast table last season that Curry wasn’t asked to guard Paul in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Kerr has often empowered Curry to face the most dangerous of opposing point guards, a task predecessor Mark Jackson usually gave to 6-foot-7 Klay Thompson last season. While sticking to a game plan designed to prevent fatigue and foul trouble for the key to the team’s pick-and-roll offense, Curry also made his disagreements known during shoot-arounds when Jackson announced defensive assignments.

“He’d go to Klay and say, ‘You got C.P.,’ and he’d look at me,” said Curry, who shared a close relationship with Jackson. “And I’m sitting here, shaking my head.

“So he knew … I talked to him a couple of times to just kind of get a reason for it. Obviously, it’s his decision, and I still have to do my job on the other guy. I wasn’t running from that at all. You have a little pride when it comes to that for sure.”

Jackson’s method was questioned within his own coaching staff. Former assistant Brian Scalabrine told CBS Sports Radio in August that by using this strategy, Jackson didn’t challenge Curry “to be great” and was “taking the easy way out.”

“Look, I think Steph Curry if he was challenged day in and day out to defend, if you want to win a championship, you have to be able to defend your position,” said Scalabrine, whom Jackson removed from the coaching staff before the playoffs began.

Curry has echoed those sentiments and said he has been held to a higher standard by Adams, whose coaching stops included three seasons as defensive-minded Tom Thibodeau’s lead assistant in Chicago.

While Curry has a slight frame at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, Adams noted before having worked with him that he was far from a weak link and had the length and quickness to become a consistently good defender if he put his mind to it on every possession. Adams challenged Curry in a conversation before training camp and then went over the film to correct mistakes made on defense.

“See the pictures,” Adams said. “See the other team’s offensive pictures as they’re coming at him and then being able to act decisively. These are things that he does naturally and does them well, and so we’re just trying to hone those kinds of skills and help him be the best he can be.”

Kerr, who with a deep bench can afford to rest Curry more often, has unleashed his point guard as his first line of defense. He said Curry not only pressures opposing point guards but also fights over the top of screens and continues to pursue the ballhandlers. The Warriors benefit by not having to switch taller defenders onto point guards, denying opponents such favorable mismatches.

“It’s knowledge,” Kerr said. “It’s understanding your opponent and what his tendencies are. But effort is paramount. It’s hard guarding these point guards in the NBA. Ask all the guys who have to guard Steph.”

Curry said the perception that he isn’t a capable defender might come in part from those who simply noticed his shooting and proceeded to look for an area to nitpick. Davidson College coach Bob McKillop agreed and pointed out that his “stealth defender” played well enough that he named a coaching technique still used in the program, “The Curry Closeout.” When Curry contested a jump shooter, he had an uncanny ability to make a break on the ball while thrusting his arms in the air while staying balanced.

Adams, a 20-year veteran of NBA assistant coaching, peered through his glasses at Curry and saw a superhero in disguise.

“Steph does it differently,” Adams said. “Steph is a polite, gracious and very kind human being. I know his parents. They did a fantastic job of raising both him and his brother. But underneath it all, he’s a killer at heart. And that’s how one should be.

“The NBA game forces you when you step on the floor to play with a certain kind of aggression, commitment, focus and desire or else you’re not going to be successful. So I think Steph fools some people as kind of the mild-mannered reporter. You know, the daily metropolitan news. But when he gets into that other suit, he’s a different kind of cat.

“I think he’s had that killer instinct offensively, and I think he is developing that same kind of attitude defensively because he sees what he can do defensively.”

For more on the Warriors, see the Inside the Warriors blog at www.babuzz.com/warriors.

Originally Published: November 22, 2014 at 12:44 AM PST