Warriors' Steph Curry is the NBA's Baddest Man, and his reputation is on the line

San Francisco Chronicle​

25-04-2025

He's got four rings and two MVP trophies, but it's time to give Stephen Curry an award that would say the most about his career:
Curry is, by a unanimous vote of this column's one-person panel, the NBA's Baddest Man.
Not the meanest or dirtiest or chippiest. Just the baddest.
In order for the Golden State Warriors to beat the Houston Rockets and advance to the Western Conference semifinals, Curry will have to live up to that title. This was written before Game 3 of the series, but there are signs that the Rockets can effectively counter Curry's badassery with their own.
The Rockets' relentlessly aggressive defense of Curry held him to 20 points in Game 2. Earlier this month they held him to three points in a regular season game.
With Jimmy Butler knocked out of action early in Game 2, the Warriors needed more than 20 from Curry. So, yes, Curry's title is on the line.
Being the NBA's Baddest Man is like being heavyweight champion of the world. You have to constantly defend your title.
That won't be easy, but neither was winning that Baddest Man title in the first place. Of the eight first-round playoff series in progress, Warriors-Rockets might be the roughest. It's let-'em-play time, say the refs, and that's the Rockets' wheelhouse. Discomfort is their comfort zone.
Working away from the ball on offense, Curry looks like a skydiving instructor wearing a first-time jumper on his back. Only close relatives and lovers should be hugged that enthusiastically.
That won't change. Curry knows he's not going to get the calls. What tells him that? The past decade.
Sure, Curry yaps at the refs. He is one of the league's 400 biggest complainers. But he knows that crying to the refs is as effective as yelping after you stub your toe.
In the first two games of the series, Curry played 77 minutes and shot six free throws, and one freebie was on a technical foul.
It's part of a larger problem, though not everyone sees it as a problem. In the playoffs, the refs call the game more loosely. Hey, let 'em play, right? Sure, I want to let my kids play, too, but when their ball rolls onto the freeway, it's time to apply some adult supervision.
Guys play harder in the playoffs, and you don't want to bog down the games with whistles. But players are smart. If you called games 5% tighter, players would adjust and play 5% less dirty. They would have to. Players will do exactly whatever they are allowed to do.
The refs allow more in the playoffs because the Association seems to believe that fans want Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. Cool, this ain't croquet. But shouldn't there be some recognition at the league level that basketball is not football or wrestling? That there is an element of athletic art that can get wiped out when the refs become innocent bystanders?
The league bosses want theater, so they allow unlimited yapping at refs, unlimited flopping and industrial-strength defense, while ignoring the fact that great basketball can also sell tickets.
Curry shot 4.3 free throws per game this season. Among guards who shot a lot more freebies than that: Trae Young (7.4), James Harden (7.3) and Damian Lillard (6.8).
Yes, I have joined the crybabies. For years I scoffed at people whining that Curry gets no calls. Perspective is hard, I preached to the whiners. Look, I coached CYO basketball for a few years, and my teams got royally screwed by the refs every single game. It looks like the NBA refs ignore the freestyle mugging of Curry, but there's no way (I explained to the crybabies) that can be true.
Hey, it takes a big man to admit he's wrong. There should be no star treatment, but there should be recognition of the fine line between good, tough defense and illegal search and seizure.
Meanwhile, Curry's only recourse is to do what he has done for the last decade, which is to go the Bruce Lee/Peter Pan route. Beat the bigger, meaner, dirtier guys with courage, cool and dazzling artistry.
That is an increasing challenge. As Curry grows older, his foes grow younger, quicker and stronger. And smarter. As Warriors' assistant coach Bruce Fraser recently observed here, the newish tactic against Curry is to 'send in the linebackers.' Bigger guys, defending with more force.
The Rockets have linebackers up the wazoo. Fred Van Vleet and Dillon Brooks are classic tacklers, and Amen Thompson is a gritty, athletic octopus.
It will be harder for Curry if Jimmy Butler is out, or is limited by his injury. Butler not only eases the burden on Curry stylistically, by spacing, moving the ball and picking, but Butler adds a level of toughness the Warriors need against the hyper-aggressive Rockets.
Curry knows the deal. After Game 2, he said, 'There were a couple (accidental) crashes that happened out there, but we know what they're trying to do — use their size advantage at times to try to bully us.'
The forecast calls for stormy weather for as long as the Warriors are in the playoffs. Their umbrella is Curry, until further notice the NBA's Baddest Man.