Stephen Curry came off the bench for the Golden State Warriors to start their playoff run. The Dubs superstar was coming off an injury and he was on a minutes limit as Golden State entered their first-round matchup against the Denver Nuggets. It was a temporary move that might be considered somewhat irrelevant for some, but the truth is, there's much more to this decision than what's on the surface.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr recently spoke out on how Curry himself reacted to the prospect of coming off the bench. This is one of the biggest superstars on the planet who has been a starter his entire career. Nevertheless, Steph knew that it was the right decision to make, and he had no qualms about it:
“I gave him a choice because he had a 20-minute restriction the first game,” Kerr told Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner on Friday's episode of the Point Forward podcast, via Tom Dierberger of NBC Sports. “I told him this is how the minutes would play out for you if you started versus if you came off the bench. Typical Steph, he said, ‘No, it sounds way better to come off the bench. That way I don’t have to sit too long between my minutes.'
“It never even entered the equation that this would be a blow to his ego or anything.”
This clearly speaks volumes of Curry's elite mindset. The former back-to-back league MVP is without a doubt one of the greatest to ever pick up a basketball, and one of the things that makes him so special is his humility.
For Warriors teammate Andre Iguodala, Curry's decision to come off the bench also sent a clear message for the rest of the squad — one that was heard loud and clear by every single member of the team:
“You know how Draymond [Green] says it’s a pecking order, right? And it all starts with [Steph],” Iguodala said. “And it was a little bit of a message saying, ‘Alright fellas, I’m coming off the bench. I’m just letting ya’ll know, this is what we need to do to win. If you got to come off the bench, you got to come off the bench.' I just loved him for that.
“Steph gets it. And that’s one thing people don’t recognize about him. He’s really for the team.”
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