Getty Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics
As the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors continue to put the finishing touches to their game plan for the opening night of the NBA Finals, former NBA Champion Matt Barnes, who won a title with the Warriors in 2017, shared a word of warning for Stephen Curry.
“Marcus Smart against Steph Curry has given Steph Curry a lot of problems because of his strength, his lateral movement, his feistiness, he’s quick with his hands. Also, among guys who have guarded Steph, he’s given him the fourth hardest defense. Steph is only shooting 29% against Smart for his career. Smart is a constant, doesn’t give up, he takes charges, he does everything you want to see in a defensive player and I think that’s why he’s hurt the Warriors and Steph,” Barnes said in a recent episode of NBA Today.
As the current Defensive Player of the Year, you would expect Smart to draw the task of guarding Curry throughout the finals, and considering that Curry usually struggles to generate any offense when defended by Smart, it will be interesting to see how the Warriors look to counter.
According to StatHead, Smart and Curry have faced off 10 times in their career, with Smart being on the winning side of things on six of those occasions. Furthermore, during those meetings, Curry has registered an average of 4.4 turnovers which shows the level of pressure Smart can apply when he’s hounding you in the half-court.
Smart Sounds Off on Steve Kerr’s March 16 Rant
When the Celtics and Warriors faced off in a regular-season battle on March 16, Smart dove for a loose ball, as he always does, and inadvertently injured Steph Curry as a result. The aftermath of that injury saw Steve Kerr label Smart’s decision to dive for the ball as a ‘non-basketball play’ – a sentiment that was widely echoed by Warriors fans around the globe.
However, when speaking to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports for an exclusive interview, Smart took time to explain his side of the story, and anyone else who believes he intentionally hurt the superstar point guard.
Steph Curry did not return to the game after an apparent injury on this play.
Steve Kerr seemed unhappy with Marcus Smart.
“I mean, it wasn’t even a problem aside from Kerr’s comments and a couple of fans that just love the Warriors and Steph no matter what anybody does. You’re always going to be wrong when it comes to the Warriors and Steph. You could be right and you’d still be wrong with certain people. I understood Steve Kerr protecting his player, but even Steph came out and said himself that he knows I wasn’t trying to hurt him.
I’ve been playing in this league for eight years and not once have I not dove on the floor. So to expect me to do anything less because it was a regular-season game is not me. No matter if it’s a regular-season game or a preseason game, I’m still diving on the floor,” Smart told Haynes in the interview.
Steve Kerr Believes Smart is Boston’s Version of Draymond
Despite the March 16 incident, Steve Kerr still has respect for the level of defense Marcus Smart brings to the table, and recently compared his impact for the Celtics to that of Draymond Green’s for the Warriors.
“His strength and his anticipation, he’s got an incredible feel for the game. He’s like the guard version of Draymond (Green), he’s reading angles. he’s guarding all five positions. If he switches onto a five-man, he’s so strong he can hold them off. He can chase point guards around, he’s big enough to guard wings. He can guard one through five in the modern game, appropriately names, really smart player, very versatile, and a great defender,” Kerr noted during a recent press conference leading into the NBA Finals.
Given how talented the Warriors’ offensive players are, and how deep their roster is, having players like Smart is a necessity for the Celtics, especially if they want to come away from their upcoming series as NBA Champions. Game one of the NBA finals is set to take place on June 2 in San Francisco, and then we can truly see how much of an impact Smart’s presence has on Steph Curry’s ability to hit shots.