Stephen Curry is known for putting defenders on his highlight reel, but what he did to Rudy Gobert in Game 1 of the Warriors-Jazz series was brutal. Gobert is a defensive player of the year candidate. Usually he's the one on highlight reels making other players look silly.
Gobert switched on to Curry, because he's good enough to do that, but this ended up being a bad decision on his part. Curry left Gobert literally spinning in place before driving by him for a reverse layup. It was cruel. It was awesome. It was a classic Steph Curry moment against one of the best defenders in the NBA.
Here's Steph Curry spinning Rudy Gobert in a circle before the reverse layup (vid via @RealGM) pic.twitter.com/iYDETUAr8x
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 3, 2017
In Gobert's defense, the only move that really got him here was Curry's first step. It left him so completely off balance that he never had a chance to properly recover. By the time he did, Curry was already driving toward the rim. A rare off-balance moment for a usually stout defender.
This might be a sign Gobert should never switch on to Curry again, but he has never been one to back down from anybody. Expect him to switch on to Curry again later in this same game. Perhaps it won't end as badly for him the second time around.
