The first aspect of Steph Curry’s game that any observer notices is his shooting ability. Curry has limitless range, the quickest release of all time, and the skill to hit shots while coming around screens at full speed, moving left or right off the dribble or, if a defense really has a death wish, on a catch-and-shoot.
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Steph puts on a show for the fans with his pregame routine, where he knocks down shots from beyond halfcourt and the tunnel. We can’t speak highly enough of how deadly he is once the ball leaves his hands, because he quite literally has reinvented the way basketball is played.
Just as deserving of praise, though, is the unbelievable condition Steph is in. Whereas some players take the occasional play off on defense or hang in the corner on an offensive possession or two, Steph’s motor just doesn’t know how to stop. He’s constantly pushing and prodding the defense, making it account for him every second that he’s on the floor.
In Part 2 of their conversation on Mind the Game, Steph, LeBron James and Steve Nash spoke about how Steph uses his conditioning and work rate as a weapon that’s every bit as deadly as his shooting.
“The conditioning: he never looks tired, he never looks defeated,” LeBron said. “Out there for 48 minutes or however long you’re on the floor, it’s just constant, constant, constant pressure. It’s deflating for a defense, it’s power to your teammates.”
LeBron then described Steph’s unique move of passing the ball and then turning his back to it and running to the other side of the court. Against anybody else, a defender could relax, but against Steph, he’s merely setting you up for his next move.
Steph giggled like a kid as LeBron talked about that hopeless, sinking feeling a defender feels, and Nash said, “He thinks this s***’s funny.” “I love it so much,” Steph admitted. “I love it, it’s my favorite.”
LeBron summed up perfectly just how futile it can feel defending Steph. “It’s impossible to defend,” he said. “You just gotta hope, for some odd reason, that somebody has tightened the rim to a point where it’s like an invisible finger underneath the net, and whenever he shoots it [it gets poked away].”
Later in the podcast, Steph talked about his conditioning. “My conditioning is a skill set. The idea of how you train and the intensity, it doesn’t mean I have to be in there for two, three hours on the court. It’s just, if I’m in there for 45, like what am I getting out of this 45 and how much focus, intentionality, and intensity can I put into a drill?”
It’s not just reps in the gym, but how can he simulate his workout in a game situation? “How much can I simulate this workout into a game situation? It’s just, how many can you do that over and over and over and over again? The volume of that is carrying me. So, granted, we all got to do our sprints and like raw conditioning. It’s just, can you get that threshold high, but the actual, can I shoot when I’m, my heart rate’s at 170 for, you know, a minute straight, can I still be accurate. Like challenging yourself in that respect.”
He spoke about this a few nights ago after dropping 49 points in a one-point Warriors win over the Spurs. “My favorite compliment I get is, ‘Oh I’m tired running around with you.’ I hear it more often than you would think,” he told Taylor Rooks of Amazon Prime’s NBA Nightcap.
Steph is almost always one of the smallest players on the court, but he makes up for it in so many ways. Even as the game has evolved to more closely mirror his playing style, nobody is able to do it quite like him.
