Russell Westbrook on Stephen Curry: ‘Nothing I haven’t seen’
Russell Westbrook is decidedly unafraid of Stephen Curry.
With the Oklahoma City Thunder set to embark on what may be Kevin Durant’s last stand, Westbrook was asked how he plans to deal with Curry and how the assignment is different than your average NBA point guard.
“He’s a shooter,” Westbrook said Monday, via ESPN’s Royce Young. “He’s not nothing I haven’t seen. Him, [Damian] Lillard, guys like that, can shoot the basketball from four or five feet behind the 3, you’ve got to do a little different job. But just be physical.”
Careful, Russ. Comparing Curry and Lillard can be a fairly controversial thing.
I’m not sure what we want Westbrook to say here. He’s guarded Curry before and he’s under no illusion that it’s going to be difficult, but if you’re going into the assignment scared, you’re already in trouble. With Durant’s free agency looming, there is a lot of pressure on the Thunder to perform, and they’ve had to answer a lot of questions about whether they’re capable of dealing with the Golden State juggernaut – in fact, Westbrook has used pretty much the exact same line to talk about the Warriors in the past. They’ll have a chance to give a definitive answer during the Western Conference Finals.