Steph Curry says he 'could care less' about Westbrook and Durant's defensive criticism

The Thunder chuckled at the idea Curry's defense is underrated, but the MVP may get the last laugh

By Matt Moore

May 28, 2016 at 3:09 pm ET • 2 min read

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Stephen Curry is having none of a war of words with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. The Golden State Warriors guard was asked on Saturday if he had seen or had a reaction to how Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook responded to a question about Curry's defense being underrated after the Warriors' victory in Game 5. Westbrook couldn't stop himself from laughing while Kevin Durant said that Curry doesn't guard his own position and that the Thunder "like their matchup."

If Curry felt disrespected, he wasn't going to take the bait with the media.

"Honestly, I could care less about other people's opinions about me," Curry said at shootaround. "I know what I do for my team and what my teammates expect from me on both ends of the floor."

Stepping aside the grammatical error Curry lodged there (technically that means he does not care an insignificant amount because there are other things he cares about less), Curry's wise not to fire back. He'll use their disrespect as motivation, that's what the Warriors' entire existence seems to subsist on, disrespect, and then afterwards do nothing but compliment them. It's very rare that the two-time MVP is able to muster up a sense of sleight, but the Thunder managed to provide it.

Curry's defense is the subject of wide debate. The eye test says he's fine. Not bad. Not great. Just fine. There are a number of advanced metrics that would indicate he's much better than he's given credit for, or at least that his impact is greater than the surface evidence would indicate. He's not going to go out and lock up Russell Westbrook because a. it is nearly physically impossible for any human being to do so -- all Andre Iguodala does is try and lead him to help-- and b. most of the time the Thunder run pick and roll, so Curry's guarding the switch anyway.

His not being the primary defender on Westbrook (Klay Thompson spends a lot of time on him) isn't an indictment of Curry. Nor is it necessary for us to use Curry's offensive greatness as a requirement to invent positive traits in him. He is not the best passer, rebounder, defender, or rim protector in the league. He is a fine-to-good defender that plays on an absolutely tremendous defense and is never exposed as the weakpoint. But if Curry steps up and has another five-steal game like he had in Game 5 when he disrupted Russell Westbrook, the Thunder will only have themselves to blame.