Written by Des Bieler at WashingtonPost.com
Oscar Robertson is right about one thing: Today’s NBA coaches have not figured out how to stop Steph Curry. The league’s reigning MVP torched yet another opponent Thursday, dropping 51 points, including a 24-point third quarter, on the Orlando Magic in the Golden State Warriors’ 130-114 win.
One night after scoring 42 in a road win over the Miami Heat, Curry traveled northward and hit 20 of 27 shots, including 10 of 15 three-pointers, at Amway Arena. He only needed to make one from long distance to break Kyle Korver’s record of 127 straight games with a three-pointer, and his amazing night once again had observers checking to see what other heights Curry reached.
As the last tweet mentioned, Curry, despite all his activity Thursday, only took one free throw (hitting it, of course). In theory, that could bolster Robertson’s assertion, made earlier in the day on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike,” that the 27-year-old guard is not being defended properly.
Robertson, whose Hall of Fame career ended in 1974, told the hosts (via NJ.com), “If I’ve got a guy who’s great shooting the ball outside, don’t you want to extend your defense out a little bit?” The 1964 NBA MVP added, “I just don’t think coaches today in basketball understand the game of basketball.”
Of course, there’s extending a defense, and then there’s trying to stop something like this from happening:
As we’ve seen for so much of his career, shots like that are no fluke for Curry. In fact, according to ESPN’s Ethan Strauss, the Warriors star has made 35 of 52 shots this season from between 28 and 50 feet.
According to Robertson, even those shots could be prevented, if teams hounded Curry — with multiple defenders, if necessary — as soon as he received the ball, no matter where he was on the court. “They double-teamed me an awful lot during my career,” Robertson told ESPN.
“I look at games today, and they’ll start a defense at the foul line,” Robertson said (via NJ.com). “When I played, they were picking you up when you got the ball inbounds. So it’s a different strategy about playing defense.”
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