At first glance, it appears as if Minnesota Timberwolves guard Austin Rivers was giving Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry the ultimate praise. On an appearance on ‘The Ringer NBA Show', Austin Rivers mentioned Steph Curry as being the toughest player he's had to guard but not quite for the reasons one might think.
Austin Rivers on the hardest player to guard:
"Steph… it's not even close… you can't touch him, they give him every f—— call, they set illegal screens for him the entire game… they don't call it cause they want to see him shoot.”
(via @ringernba, https://t.co/jSImJvqsz9) pic.twitter.com/b43k5wPHjw
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) January 22, 2023
“Steph… it's not even close… you can't touch him, they give him every f—— call, they set illegal screens for him the entire game,” Rivers said. “They don't call it cause they want to see him shoot.”
Steph Curry is certainly a nightmare for opposing defenses to guard and it's not hard to see why opposing players might be so frustrated having to guard him. But it's certainly not because of favoritism from the officiating. Curry is perhaps the greatest shooter in NBA history. He has a career mark of 42.7 percent shooting from the three-point line and he's the league's all-time leader in three-pointers made. Not only that, he has become one of the most gifted players at moving off the ball, navigating screens and freeing himself up for a jump shot. He has a career average of 24.5 points per game.
This season, Curry is averaging 29.3 points per game, 6.4 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from the three-point line. He is on pace to be named to his 9th All-Star appearance.
As far as his calls, he only averages 4.3 free-throw attempts for his career and this season he's taking 5.1 attempts from the line.
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