Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving, despite having been in the NBA for well over a decade now, are still a premier point guard matchup in the league. Any clash between the two has been looked at as must see TV and it’s understandable as to why this is the case.
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Irving and Curry have met one another 16 times in the regular season with the latter edging out the Duke product 9-7 in those battles. Curry’s averages against him in those 16 games come to 23.6 points on 45% shooting from the field. Kyrie has similarly put up 22.9 points per game on 43.7% shooting from the field.
Tonight’s game between the Golden State Warriors and the Brooklyn nets puts an old rivalry from the 2010s back into the spotlight as the two accomplished guards go at one another in the absence of Kevin Durant.
Chris Paul gets disrespected by a Warriors graphic
Comparing Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving is something that, when it does, is done based solely on their skills. If we were to compare who was the greater player, it would 100% be Curry without a doubt given his MVPs and championships.
So, a question posed to the public during the Warriors-Nets game was one that pondered over who the better ball handler was: Steph or KAI? This wasn’t the end of it though. There was a 3rd option available and that man was Chris Paul.
However, while Steph got 39% of the vote, Kyrie got the remaining 61% of it, as expected. What wasn’t expected was that Paul would get 0% of the votes, bringing into question why this graphic was even put on display.
ZERO 😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/y6tW78R4Kr
— Dom2K (Celtics Expert)🎆 (@Dom_2k) January 23, 2023
The duality of both Steph and Kyrie’s play
It’s quite interesting to see the way Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry play when comparing the two. Irving is a savant when it comes to attacking the basket and handling the ball. Perhaps the greatest ever when it comes to the latter of those. His shooting from the outside however, while it is great, isn’t on Curry’s level.
Steph on the other hand, is the greatest outside shooter of all time but his ball handling skills and his ability to put pressure on the rim, while they are elite, aren’t on Kyrie’s level. The two essentially complete each other as if you were to combine their skills, you would have the most skilled player in the history of the game.