James, Warriors’ Curry set to renew rivalry in play-in game.
For as many times as LeBron James and Steph Curry have clashed, there’s yet to be a catchy name for their match-up.
How about: The King vs. … the Artist?
After Curry’s 46-point afternoon in a win over the Memphis Grizzlies, one that clinched the Golden State Warriors’ eighth seed in the play-in tournament, teammate Juan TuscanoAnderson reached beyond the realm of sport for comparison: “He’s like the Picasso of our time.”
It will be the Lakers vs. Warriors, headlined by the era’s top winner in James and the era’s most stylistic scorer in Curry. They’ve met 22 times in the playoffs across four Finals series, which Curry has the 3-1 edge. But this time, it’s one night only.
There are team stakes on the line obviously: The winner of the 7-8 game on Wednesday gets to play against No. 2 seed Phoenix in the first round, while the loser must play a sudden-death game against the 9-10 seed to advance to No. 1 seed Utah. But naturally the eye draws to the two superstars and their history, and the most exciting part might be that they feel that anticipation themselves.
“At the end of the day, you expect greatness,” Curry said of facing James. “That’s the part I’ve enjoyed so much about playing in Finals against him, against those Cleveland teams and those games that matter. It just brings out another level of intensity and excitement and a sense of urgency about it because you know how good you have to play in order to win games like that.”
The Lakers and Warriors have played three times this season, with the Lakers blowing out the Warriors twice, but allowing a comeback in January after holding a big lead.
Between Curry and James in the playoffs, Curry’s Warriors have a 15-7 record against the Jamesera Cavaliers, and Curry averaged 25.6 points, 6.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 39.7 % 3-point shooting. James has averaged 33 points, 11.5 rebounds and 9.3 assists in those games.
Neither is quite at the height of his powers.
The 36-year-old James has missed the most games due to injury of any NBA season he’s played, and is just two games back from his latest struggle with a high right ankle sprain. At 33, Curry secured a spot as the NBA’s scoring champion averaging 32 points and shooting 42% from 3-point range, but he’s without longtime backcourt mate Klay Thompson while he and Draymond Green have helped lead an inexperienced cast back to the postseason.
Still, Warriors coach Steve Kerr expected something spectacular out of the match-up.
“You’re talking about two of the greatest players of all-time, so both guys still playing at such an elite level,” he said. “And, of course, four meetings in The Finals is going to create a rivalry, but there’s obviously tremendous mutual respect between the two of them, and we’ll see what happens.”
Hall of Fame enshrinement
While the Lakers have had a packed weekend that included a flight taking place during the Hall of Fame induction Saturday in Connecticut, they still made time to watch some of the proceedings. After Kobe Bryant was inducted posthumously, coach Frank Vogel said that moment stood out.
“Obviously the strength of Vanessa Bryant, to go up and deliver her speech the way she did, just full of grace,” he said. “Just complete admiration for her strength and being able to handle that moment with class, dignity. It was awesome. I was very, very impressed.”