Kawhi vs Curry

[tpols]

Who are you starting your team with?

Breakdown for me:

Offense. Pretty much identical productions and efficiencies. (shot making) TIE

Defense. Big difference. KAWHI

Intangibles. Curry is more explosive due to his 3 pt bombing ways. Also gets doubled more.. which leads to 4v3 halfcourt fastbreaks. v10 engine to Kawhi's v8. But OTOH Kawhi is more reliable when you need a bucket, because of his midrange affinity and unflappable disposition. slight CHEF

Overall?

Kawhi wins for me.

[RRR3]

Curry. More impact.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Curry's 2016 regular season has an argument over any Kawhi reg seasons. Playoffs I think 2019 Kawhi was better then any Curry run. Overall player i think Kawhi is better because the defense gap is bigger then offense gap. Kawhi is closer to a defensive anchor and Curry is closer to a defensive liability.

Both have had great supporting casts but I think Kawhi has won with more range of supporting casts. Kawhi won with spurs, won with raptors, great run with clippers so far. While with Curry we haven't seen him do anything without the Klay/Dray/Iggy next to him + Durant.

Kawhi outplayed Curry in 2013 playoffs and went on to the finals. Kawhi outplayed Curry in 2019 finals and went on to win MVP. Curry did get over on him in 2017 but Kawhi missed majority of the series.

[Bronbron23]

Easily kawhi. Better offensive impact deep in the playoffs and a way bigger defensive impact. Curry is more entertaining though ill give him that. As a fan id much rather watch curry.

[tpols]

Curry. More impact.

How so?

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Curry. More impact.

Curry was outplayed by Kawhi in 2013 and 2019 playoffs. Where was Curry's "more impact" during that time? No supporting casts stuff either because everybody knows Curry has been privileged all his career with Klay/Dray/Iggy core. Not to mention Kevin Durant lol

[StrongLurk]

Starting my team with? Curry gets the slight nod.

[ELITEpower23]

Curry. More impact.

Bingo.

Curry's impact is insane.

[RRR3]

Curry was outplayed by Kawhi in 2013 and 2019 playoffs. Where was Curry's "more impact" during that time? No supporting casts stuff either because everybody knows Curry has been privileged all his career with Klay/Dray/Iggy core. Not to mention Kevin Durant lol
No one cares what you think on this subject. You are the equivalent of 3ball when it comes to Kawhi.

[Nashty]

I like Curry, but Kawhi is better as we saw in the Finals last year.

[tpols]

I like Curry, but Kawhi is better as we saw in the Finals last year.

I dont believe that's an accurate argument. Curry lost Durant then Klay and had to deal with demarcus cousins as his 2nd option... whose all time bad. Another fella you wouldn't want on your team despite putting up Shaq lines for some years in regular seasons. And teams realized that when he went from a max level player to a minimum guy in the span of like 2 years. Kawhi didn't lose Gasol... or Siakam... or Ibaka... or Lowry. He lost no one. So that's a very myopic analysis to base Leonard being better on.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

I dont believe that's an accurate argument. Curry lost Durant then Klay and had to deal with demarcus cousins as his 2nd option... whose all time bad. Another fella you wouldn't want on your team despite putting up Shaq lines for some years in regular seasons. And teams realized that when he went from a max level player to a minimum guy in the span of like 2 years. Kawhi didn't lose Gasol... or Siakam... or Ibaka... or Lowry. He lost no one. So that's a very myopic analysis to base Leonard being better on.

Draymond is still warriors 2nd best player by impact. They just swept blazers, don't forget that. Also Draymond was warriors best player by GmSc during that 2nd round Rockets series. Siakam missed 12 straight three pointers providing zero spacing, Klay missed a game and a quarter. Iggy was still there.

I feel Curry had enough help but he choose to play poor defense and he's just the overall inferior player to Kawhi.

[Nashty]

I dont believe that's an accurate argument. Curry lost Durant then Klay and had to deal with demarcus cousins as his 2nd option... whose all time bad. Another fella you wouldn't want on your team despite putting up Shaq lines for some years in regular seasons. And teams realized that when he went from a max level player to a minimum guy in the span of like 2 years. Kawhi didn't lose Gasol... or Siakam... or Ibaka... or Lowry. He lost no one. So that's a very myopic analysis to base Leonard being better on.

He outplayed him based on individual stats while both of them being 1st options. I agree that Kawhi had more help, but Curry still had Klay, Dray, Iggy. That being said if Durant was not injured the Warriors would win. I just don't think that Curry is on level with Durant, Kawhi and LeBron. His only championship without Durant also came against the team playing without their 2nd and 3rd best player.

[Axe]

Curry is great in the regular season but come playoff time, kawhi would suffice moreso when he's healthy.

[tpols]

He outplayed him based on individual stats while both of them being 1st options. I agree that Kawhi had more help, but Curry still had Klay, Dray, Iggy. That being said if Durant was not injured the Warriors would win. I just don't think that Curry is on level with Durant, Kawhi and LeBron. His only championship without Durant also came against the team playing without their 2nd and 3rd best player.

He didn't have Klay though. He got hurt right when the series was becoming interesting.

Iggy was also completely washed by that point. He was literally a 5 ppg player the past two years lmao.

[SouBeachTalents]

He didn't have Klay though. He got hurt right when the series was becoming interesting. Iggy was also completely washed by that point.
Who would you pick, Warriors with Klay at Toronto in Game 7

[tpols]

Who would you pick, Warriors with Klay at Toronto in Game 7

They probably would've won.

Lowry smelled blood after Klay got hurt and realized Golden State had no punching power left outside Chef. He went nuts in that closeout game after being a playoff bum for so long.

Klay was exactly the type of counter punch they needed to combat that.

[Norcaliblunt]

Both are better than Kobe

[Nashty]

He didn't have Klay though. He got hurt right when the series was becoming interesting.

Iggy was also completely washed by that point. He was literally a 5 ppg player the past two years lmao.

Yeah, true, Kawhi had more help than Curry last year undoubtedly, but for me that still does not change the fact that he outplayed him individually too. Curry is still like top 4 to top 8 player in the league.

[Axe]

He didn't have Klay though. He got hurt right when the series was becoming interesting.

Iggy was also completely washed by that point. He was literally a 5 ppg player the past two years lmao.
Reasons. :oldlol:

And how do you expect a 35-year old iggy who's a defensive specialist to be a more prominent scorer in that age? Are you only saying that because you expected him to be a 2nd or 3rd scoring option for his team hmm?

[Nashty]

Both are better than Kobe

Agreed.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

He didn't have Klay though. He got hurt right when the series was becoming interesting.

Iggy was also completely washed by that point. He was literally a 5 ppg player the past two years lmao.

Both false narratives by you.

Klay missed a game and a quarter of important basketball. Game 2 was when warriors won due to Iggy clutch play. Klay still missed twice as less as Dirk in 2003 WCF.

Iggy in 2019 finals has nearly identical stats to 2016 finals when LeBron beat him.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Who would you pick, Warriors with Klay at Toronto in Game 7

Its in Toronto and one team has Kawhi, no brainer. Go ask the 3 all stars how that worked out for them on 76ers? *insert Embiid crying GIF*

[ArbitraryWater]

He didn't have Klay though. He got hurt right when the series was becoming interesting.

Iggy was also completely washed by that point. He was literally a 5 ppg player the past two years lmao.

Except he did have Klay.

Klay missed a game and a quarter.

But Kawhi didnt even outplay him. Both were meh.

[tpols]

Fellas,

How are we supposed to have an honest discussion when you act like missing Klay for two elimination games doesn't matter?

Especially given the fact he was going OFF before getting injured.

We cant even talk if that's the immature position you're gonna take.

[RRR3]

Fellas,

How are we supposed to have an honest discussion when you act like missing Klay for two elimination games doesn't matter?

Especially given the fact he was going OFF before getting injured.

We cant even talk if that's the immature position you're gonna take.
HBK_Kliq is just 3ball for Kawhi.

[Axe]

Fellas,

How are we supposed to have an honest discussion when you act like missing Klay for two elimination games doesn't matter?

Especially given the fact he was going OFF before getting injured.

We cant even talk if that's the immature position you're gonna take.
What the hell are ya talking about? He only entirely missed game 3 of last year's finals. He still had some points in the other games. :lol

[NBAGOAT]

curry's better on offense. everyone always forgets playmaking. before this year, kawhi was easily below average in that area as a star with high usage while curry has consistently been very good there since becoming a star. As efficient as kawhi is, curry has a clear advantage there too like 3% in ts so no they're not virtually identical. he does get hurt by having playoff injury issues but i dont think that's enough. defense closes the gap but kawhi's a perimeter defender who's strength is man 2 man, that's just not a huge needle mover impact wise

at least according to ben taylor who went over a lot of film and impact stuff, curry was by far the best player in the finals last year even though the stats were similar. There just isnt a stat for a guy getting a bum an open layup because the defense throws 2 guys at you off ball besides impact stuff. Curry might be the only guy in history where defenses instinctively would rather give up an open layup than a curry look from deep

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Fellas,

How are we supposed to have an honest discussion when you act like missing Klay for two elimination games doesn't matter?

Especially given the fact he was going OFF before getting injured.

We cant even talk if that's the immature position you're gonna take.

Klay played in elimination game 5 and warriors only won by 1 point despite having Durant adding 11 points. There's an argument that raptors should/could have easily won 4-1 if Durant sits out.

Game 6 warriors had another chance and they blew it at home because Klay missed a quarter. Inexcusable after they got let off the hook by Durant in game 5.

[Axe]

Klay played in elimination game 5 and warriors only won by 1 point despite having Durant adding 11 points. There's an argument that raptors should/could have easily won 4-1 if Durant sits out.

Game 6 warriors had another chance and they blew it at home because Klay missed a quarter. Inexcusable after they got let off the hook by Durant in game 5.
Another factor that led the warriors to winning that game was the pretty unnecessary timeout that nurse suddenly called with 3 minutes remaining and the raptors being hot on a 12-2 run. It allowed the dubs to regroup and plan for the coup in order to survive but just barely. Had the raptors won 4-1, their run would have been similar to the 2004 pistons which took 23 games in that postseason.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

curry's better on offense. everyone always forgets playmaking. before this year, kawhi was easily below average in that area as a star with high usage while curry has consistently been very good there since becoming a star. As efficient as kawhi is, curry has a clear advantage there too like 3% in ts so no they're not virtually identical. he does get hurt by having playoff injury issues but i dont think that's enough. defense closes the gap but kawhi's a perimeter defender who's strength is man 2 man, that's just not a huge needle mover impact wise

at least according to ben taylor who went over a lot of film and impact stuff, curry was by far the best player in the finals last year even though the stats were similar. There just isnt a stat for a guy getting a bum an open layup because the defense throws 2 guys at you off ball besides impact stuff. Curry might be the only guy in history where defenses instinctively would rather give up an open layup than a curry look from deep

If Curry is that impactful then why did Warriors always crumble when Klay was out? Even in just a limited game and a half, Curry wasn't able to pick up the slack.

Kawhi also was averaging over a block a game during the ECF and the finals, so you have to add that to his resume. He is also very Pippen-like in the way he can help out on defense. So the gap is massive. Curry always had to have Iggy/Dray/Klay cover up his weaknesses on defense. Curry would never guard an MVP level player for 4 straight wins like Kawhi did on Giannis.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Another factor that led the warriors to winning that game was the pretty unnecessary timeout that nurse suddenly called with 3 minutes remaining and the raptors being hot on a 12-2 run. It allowed the dubs to regroup and plan for the coup in order to survive but just barely. Had the raptors won 4-1, their run would have been similar to the 2004 pistons which took 23 games in that postseason.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Zj_0-7qQI

Yeah Leonard scored 7 straight points to put them up 6 with 3 mins left. Credit to Curry/Klay they answered back. I still think raptors win that game without Durant's presence.

[Roundball_Rock]

Career wise, thus far Curry but peak versus peak Kawhi. Curry is the better offensive player but Kawhi is elite himself. Kawhi blows him away defensively, though, and Kawhi is the most clutch star of his era.

[Axe]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Zj_0-7qQI

Yeah Leonard scored 7 straight points to put them up 6 with 3 mins left. Credit to Curry/Klay they answered back. I still think raptors win that game without Durant's presence.
Same thing. The warriors are only good for 95 points in that game without durant's scoring.

[warriorfan]

Who are you starting your team with?

Breakdown for me:

Offense. Pretty much identical productions and efficiencies. (shot making) TIE

Defense. Big difference. KAWHI

Intangibles. Curry is more explosive due to his 3 pt bombing ways. Also gets doubled more.. which leads to 4v3 halfcourt fastbreaks. v10 engine to Kawhi's v8. But OTOH Kawhi is more reliable when you need a bucket, because of his midrange affinity and unflappable disposition. slight CHEF

Overall?

Kawhi wins for me.

Honestly interchangeable 1a 1b

It’s been that way since late 2014...and health considerations aside...it’s still true.

I got banned from another site years ago for saying Leonard was the 2nd best player in the league in 2015.

[NBAGOAT]

If Curry is that impactful then why did Warriors always crumble when Klay was out? Even in just a limited game and a half, Curry wasn't able to pick up the slack.

Kawhi also was averaging over a block a game during the ECF and the finals, so you have to add that to his resume. He is also very Pippen-like in the way he can help out on defense. So the gap is massive. Curry always had to have Iggy/Dray/Klay cover up his weaknesses on defense. Curry would never guard an MVP level player for 4 straight wins like Kawhi did on Giannis.

i just disagree about kawhi's defense since he got to toronto. he can play great help defense but he doesnt do it consistently anymore. The gap was big pre 2018 but then curry's offensive gap was large too(enough for me to give the nod to him) yes curry has played on teams that covered his defense but he's still neutral, he's not nash. as for last year the warriors had issues even with klay anyway with no depth at all after kd got injured so it's not that big an indictment the raptors smoked them without klay and kd, curry was playing well offensively. kawhi definitely deserves credit for giannis but you're exaggerating there. it was a team effort with a lot of help defense from gasol and ibaka exasperated by the buck's poor shooting that series.

There have been many time offensive greats who cant carry a team past the 8 seed. Having a large impact does not mean turning any roster into a title contender. The warriors had a pretty weak roster without kd or klay, that's not debatable

[Bronbron23]

curry's better on offense. everyone always forgets playmaking. before this year, kawhi was easily below average in that area as a star with high usage while curry has consistently been very good there since becoming a star. As efficient as kawhi is, curry has a clear advantage there too like 3% in ts so no they're not virtually identical. he does get hurt by having playoff injury issues but i dont think that's enough. defense closes the gap but kawhi's a perimeter defender who's strength is man 2 man, that's just not a huge needle mover impact wise

at least according to ben taylor who went over a lot of film and impact stuff, curry was by far the best player in the finals last year even though the stats were similar. There just isnt a stat for a guy getting a bum an open layup because the defense throws 2 guys at you off ball besides impact stuff. Curry might be the only guy in history where defenses instinctively would rather give up an open layup than a curry look from deep

its shit like this that makes me wonder if half of yall even understand whats going on out there. Currys impact is heavily reliant apon screens and this eras rules. Teams dont double steph because hes so tough offensively. They double him because of the way the warriors run screens with him. They set screens to either get curry a good look or to get curry a switch defensively so he can beat his man more easily. Your basically not allowed fighting through screens anymore or its a foul so the defense only has 2 options when ot comes to defending curry. They can switch and allow whats usually a slow big to defend curry or they can double curry and force him to give it up to an open man. Option 2 is usually the lesser of the 2 evils.

This is why curry will often struggle against teams that have 5 versatile defenders. They can just switch and gaurd steph straight up one on one most times. This hurts the warriors offense because steph cant easily beat decent defenders in iso situations and other guys like klay arnt wide open due to them doubling the ball. This was the case in most of the finals against brons cavs. It was also the case against the rockets a couple years ago in the western conference finals.

[NBAGOAT]

its shit like this that makes me wonder if half of yall even understand whats going on out there. Currys impact is heavily reliant apon screens and this eras rules. Teams dont double steph because hes so tough offensively. They double him because of the way the warriors run screens with him. They set screens to either get curry a good look or to get curry a switch defensively so he can beat his man more easily. Your basically not allowed fighting through screens anymore or its a foul so the defense only has 2 options when ot comes to defending curry. They can switch and allow whats usually a slow big to defend curry or they can double curry and force him to give it up to an open man. Option 2 is usually the lesser of the 2 evils.

This is why curry will often struggle against teams that have 5 versatile defenders. They can just switch and gaurd steph straight up one on one most times. This hurts the warriors offense because steph cant easily beat decent defenders in iso situations and other guys like klay arnt wide open due to them doubling the ball. This was the case in most of the finals against brons cavs. It was also the case against the rockets a couple years ago in the western conference finals.

there's nothing wrong with using screens though yes the warriors have gotten away with more illegal screens that average. the rules really help more there, handchecking rules and allowing guys to fight through screens are two different things and i dont see defenders allowed to be super physical with defenders pre 2005. Also, why does a guy have to exclusively beat a guy 1v1 to be considered dominant offensively?

Anyway he has no problem doing well in isos especially vs less versatile defenders. Put up 1.08ppp on isos in 2019, consistently over 1.0 in his prime. 1.3poss/game isnt a lot but no one isos that much besides harden. even durant and kawhi are only at 3.5 and say someone like cj is at 2.3. He has bad series like almost everyone else but has put up like 27ppg on 60+ts% the past 5 years in the playoffs. it's a myth he's a terrible playoff performer

the twp options were presented accurately but that's the thing for pretty much everyone else option 2 is the greater evil. you mentioned the rockets series but really the reason the warriors offense was not as effective was they had to default to leaning heavily on durant isos/post ups. The rockets would rather durant iso vs paul/gordon than have him give it up to an open man. They also often still put plenty of defensive attention on curry when he was offball(pretty consensus opinions the rockets defensive gameplan focused more on curry). He was the focus of their help defense and that's part of why durant was able to score so much.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Kawhi in the playoffs and Curry to get me there :lol

Tough one but right now I would probably take Kawhi. He doesn't have the regular-season impact Curry has, or even the offensive impact, but his defense is still great. That and he's better when the game becomes slower and you need a bucket. That snail ball is a regularity during the playoffs, which is why Kawhi is valued.

[imdaman99]

Regular season Curry. Playoffs Kawhi

[Walk on Water]

Leonard is more well rounded, I'll admit. Obviously much better on defense. But Leonard could never be a lead dog to help the Warriors win 73 games. Curry at his peak beats Leonard because of his 3 pointers and spacing. Leonard can never have a season like Curry in 2016 and Curry has had other years too that were close to that season due to his 3 point shooting.

[Axe]

He may not have led a 73-win team but instead, became part of a 67-win team in the spurs (franchise record) that were also the second seed, only behind those warriors. Not to mention in that season, the spurs were the strongest at home too, going 40-1 which matched the home record of the '85-86 celtics. Did you even know that, blogger? But they came up short against kd and the thunder during the wcsf which is a sad thing.

[Shooter]

Curry is the better player to start with, but Kawhi is close.

Curry is top 30 and Kawhi is top 40. The fact that Kawhi cannot be an MVP on a team does bring him down, plus he has played on all time stacked teams his entire career and has only made 3 Finals. I guess that's still goody=, but Curry has made 5.

Finals
Curry 5
Kawhi 3

MVP
Curry 2
Kawhi 0

[Axe]

^^I find it amusing how you intentionally omit their playoff appearances and fmvps they have.

[Shooter]

^^I find it amusing how you intentionally omit their playoff appearances and fmvps they have.

Kawhi's FMVPs are the least impressive of any two-time winner, no? I legit ask you who has had worse rings than Kawhi?

2014 he averaged 16 and pulled an Iggy FMVP
2019 he beat up a severely injured team while playing for a powerhouse Raptors team that won 59 games the year without him and then added Marc Gasol and Danny Green :lol Are those FMVPs the worst for any two-time winner ever?

[HBK_Kliq_2]

i just disagree about kawhi's defense since he got to toronto. he can play great help defense but he doesnt do it consistently anymore. The gap was big pre 2018 but then curry's offensive gap was large too(enough for me to give the nod to him) yes curry has played on teams that covered his defense but he's still neutral, he's not nash. as for last year the warriors had issues even with klay anyway with no depth at all after kd got injured so it's not that big an indictment the raptors smoked them without klay and kd, curry was playing well offensively. kawhi definitely deserves credit for giannis but you're exaggerating there. it was a team effort with a lot of help defense from gasol and ibaka exasperated by the buck's poor shooting that series.

There have been many time offensive greats who cant carry a team past the 8 seed. Having a large impact does not mean turning any roster into a title contender. The warriors had a pretty weak roster without kd or klay, that's not debatable

Raptors were down 0-2 when Kawhi wasn't guarding him. Kawhi switched on Giannis in game 3 and they won 4 straight games. They also put Kawhi on Jimmy Butler in game 7.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Kawhi's FMVPs are the least impressive of any two-time winner, no? I legit ask you who has had worse rings than Kawhi?

2014 he averaged 16 and pulled an Iggy FMVP
2019 he beat up a severely injured team while playing for a powerhouse Raptors team that won 59 games the year without him and then added Marc Gasol and Danny Green :lol Are those FMVPs the worst for any two-time winner ever?

Best player on the team that knocked out 6 MVPS. That's two pretty damn impressive finals MVPS.

[JohnMax]

Curry with another high impact 3 point shooter is top 5 all-time player.

My only issue is how would he fare with a non-3point shooter star in place of Klay. I don't think he would do as well.

[Axe]

Curry with another high impact 3 point shooter is top 5 all-time player.

My only issue is how would he fare with a non-3point shooter star in place of Klay. I don't think he would do as well.
Can he maintain his long-range shooting during the postseason? I doubt.