Getty Brothers Stephen Curry and Seth Curry greet one another before the 2019 3-Pt Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend.
The last time the Philadelphia 76ers went toe-to-toe with the Warriors, Seth Curry was outscored by his superstar brother thanks to a last-minute three and his squad lost the game in blowout fashion. So, when the two teams squared off again on Saturday, Curry & Co. were determined to get a better result.
To do so, the Sixers would have to stop Steph. And, clearly, Seth had a pretty good idea about how that might be accomplished.
“You gotta be consistent. You gotta be able to run with him the entire game,” Seth told the Sixers’ Matt Murphy before the contest. “You can’t get content with stopping him for a quarter or a half. You gotta stick to it for 48 minutes and you can’t get discouraged when he makes a couple tough shots.”
He went on to note that it would also require “a constant team effort, not just one or two guys.” As it happens, that’s exactly what Philly got as it put Steph in clamps en route to a 102-93 win at Wells Fargo Center.
Steph Gets Put in the Corner
Although the pre-game talk on the Warriors side was largely centered on Steph breaking Ray Allen’s career record for three-pointers made, the Sixers prevented him from even sniffing the mark. More than that, though, they kept him from ever gaining a foothold in the contest.
In 36 minutes of play, Curry scored 18 points and added nine boards and five assists, but he was just 6-for-20 from the field and 3-of-14 from three-point range. When he was on the court, the Sixers outscored the Warriors by nine points.
Philly threw a variety of looks at Steph throughout the night whether it was Joel Embiid defending him at the hoop, Tobias Harris switching out on him or Tyrese Maxey or Furkan Korkmaz closing out, the Warriors star had a variety of hands in his face throughout the night.
However, no one was as effective as Matisse Thybulle, who singlehandedly forced him into multiple misses (and in a variety of situations). Not only that — the defensive wunderkind twice swatted Curry on above-the-break three attempts.
As noted by ESPN stats guru Kirk Goldsberry, Thybulle became the first-ever player to have ever rejected two Curry three attempts in a single game as a result.
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Seth Low-Key Outplayed Big Bro
Although it was Joel Embiid who led the way offensively with 26 points, while Thybulle keyed the defensive effort, Seth Curry had a solid game himself. Over 35 minutes, he hit 5-of-9 shots for 10 points while adding five boards, two assists, a steal and a block.
It was far from being one of his better efforts, but it could still probably be said that he outplayed Steph on this occasion. That said, Seth may have been content with simply not getting cooked by his brother from deep for a change.
Entering the contest, the elder Curry was averaging more triples (5.5) per contest against Seth than any other opponent (minimum 15 head-to-head matchups, regular season and playoffs), per ESPN Stats & Info.
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