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Deep into his 9th season in the league, Steph Curry continues to wow NBA fans with his exciting offensive play, which he displays whenever he takes the floor for the indomitable Golden State Warriors. As a ballhandler, Curry really is among the very best in the world - right up there with Jamal Crawford and Kyrie 'Uncle Drew' Irving.
When Curry is on his game (which is usually every time the Warriors take the floor), the only unanimous winner of the MVP award in NBA history can break the ankles of the very best defenders in the business. If you don't take my word, ask Chris Paul (who features thrice in this article) how it feels to be on the receiving end of Chef Curry's handling recipes.
On Curry's 30th birthday, we take a look back at the 2-time MVP's very best plays of his career. This is a definitive list of the top 10 times Steph has displayed otherworldly ballhandling wizardry. The parameters used to come up with these rankings are:
(a) the difficulty of the dribble move in question
(b) who the unfortunate defender(s) is/are to come up against Curry in the move
(c) what the stakes of the game in question are
in that order. So here goes our countdown:
#10 vs the Memphis Grizzlies, December 30th, 2017
Curry returned from an ankle injury he suffered early that month against the Pelicans in this game against the Memphis Grizzlies. If there were any questions as to how much time Curry would take to get back to full form and fitness, they were answered by the statline he put up that night: 38 points scored off 17 field goal attempts in just 25:36 of gametime.
Curry knocked down 10 of the 13 3-pointers he attempted that night. This attempt he puts up after putting Gasol in a veritable spin cycle to nail his 10th 3-pointer of the night is a sight to behold.
#9 vs the LA Clippers, 31st March, 2015
The Warriors-Clippers rivalry was an important storyline of the 2014-15 NBA season. With Blake Griffin and Chris Paul in their ranks, the Clippers beat the Warriors in the first round of the 2013-14 Western Conference playoffs. After Steve Kerr took over the head coaching role with the Dubs, however, the pendulum swung heavily in favour of his team.
Part of the reason for that pendulum swing was the way Curry stepped up to announce himself as the league's premier point guard that season. This move he executed against Paul in their final matchup of the season was just another sign of that change-of-guard at the top of the pile.
Paul misreads Curry's movements, steps on his foot and then falls to the ground in disgraceful fashion as Curry knocks down a baseline jumper. The Warriors won that game 110-106, taking the season series 3-1.
#8 vs the Charlotte Hornets, 1st February, 2017
The 2016-17 Hornets are not the toughest opponents Curry has had to face in his career, though they did have Kemba Walker playing out of his mind in a breakout season. Playing his first full season alongside Kevin Durant, one would have expected the Warriors to tackle the Hornets without much fuss.
They did do that with a blowout 126-111 win, and Curry had the highlight reel of the game with this nasty ankle-breaking move he pulled off over an onrushing Marvin Williams. The speed of Curry's dribble move was enough to topple the power forward over and onto his back, as he helplessly watched Curry swish a 3-pointer subsequently.
#7 vs the Portland Trail Blazers, 11th March 2016
Damian Lillard is surely one of the toughest opponents Curry has had to face through the course of his NBA career. Although Lillard has never enjoyed much postseason success against Steph, Dame has given him nightmares with a skillset quite similar to Curry's own.
He happened to be on the wrong end of a typical Curry move during this blowout loss, however. First, he gives up position for a right-hand drive by Curry. Spotting this, Curry forces him to shift even more out of his path with a behind-the-back dribble, before executing a back-and-forth behind the back to clear a driving lane and put Lillard behind him.
Finally, he executes a circus move to finish past a hapless Lennard, who happens to be too far to contest Curry's finish.
#6 vs the Utah Jazz, 26th December 2012
The 2012-13 regular season campaign marked the first time the world sat up and took notice of Stephen Curry's talents, as he splashed his way to a record-breaking 272 made threes in the regular season at a mind-boggling 45.3% conversion rate. The Warriors then upset Andre Iguodala and the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs before bowing out of the postseason with a 4-2 loss against finalists San Antonio.
In this game against the Utah Jazz, Curry gets a screen from Carl Landry to get past his primary defender Alec Burks. He then executes a quicksilver behind-the-back crossover dribble to leave Derrick Favors for dead before finishing at the rim.
#5 vs Chicago Bulls, 24th November 2017
There are no two ways about this: the Chicago Bulls entered this season with the sole objective of maximizing their chances of getting a high draft pick in what looks like a loaded 2018 draft. Keeping that in mind, we have to mark down Curry's jaw-dropping move against them in a blowout win for the Warriors at the Oracle Arena.
Bringing the ball upcourt, Curry faces up MIP contender Kris Dunn and executes 2 crossover dribbles before losing control of the ball. As soon as he gets it back on a proverbial string, he crosses Dunn up for good, goes into the lane and finishes past 2 hapless help defenders for a circus move that must rank somewhere among the very best of his collection of scalps.
#4 vs the LA Clippers, 8th March 2015
Earlier on, we talked about how there was a change of guard in the bragging rights for the title of 'Best Point Guard in the League' in the 2014-15 regular season. Well, it became apparent for the first time that Chris Paul could not stop Steph from getting his share in this very game, from which we have another move later on in this article.
This move may not seem a very tough one to execute on the surface, but when we look at the fact that it's Chris Paul - a defensive maestro with probably the highest basketball IQ in the league - who's at the receiving end of this move, and how Steph times his fake perfectly to throw him off balance before executing an open jumpshot, we begin to develop an appreciation for why it's placed so high on this list.
#3 vs the LA Clippers, 8th March 2015
As dribble moves go, this is probably the toughest one Curry has ever executed in his career. However, since it comes in a regular season game - albeit against Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan - we cannot place it higher than 3rd on our list.
In a frankly otherworldly move, Steph focuses all of his attention on getting a clean shot off before the shot clock expires. Being closely guarded by Paul and with DeAndre Jordan waiting for possible dribble penetration, Curry pulls off a between-the-legs crossover dribble, followed by a behind-the-back crossover, escapes the attentions of a third defender in Spencer Hawes before swishing it from downtown.
Go on, replay that one.
#2 vs the Utah Jazz, 2nd May 2017
While Rudy Gobert did finish 3rd in the Defensive Player of the Year voting last season, a lot of reputed defenders have been left in the dust following Steph Curry's trail as he piles on all kinds of offensive pressure once they find themselves guarding him.
In game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, Gobert found himself switched onto Curry right at the 3-point line - a position no center likes to defend from. And knowing Curry's propensity to fire off from any point beyond half-court, Gobert valiantly attempts to keep up with the speedy dribble moves Curry makes 4 feet away from him.
It all comes to no avail as with 2 crossovers that leave Gobert thoroughly shaken up, Curry dances past him and ends Gobert's torture with a fancy layup in the paint.
#1 vs the Cleveland Cavaliers, 4th June 2017
The 2017 NBA Finals were supposed to be a close matchup according to all experts, even though ESPN's analysis gave the Cavs only a 7% chance of beating the Dubs and clinching back-to-back titles.
While Kevin Durant's game-winning 3-pointer is probably the play that will remain etched in most fans' minds, the most fly play of the series was made by our resident Chef, who cooked up LeBron with a series of moves that even the best player in the world had no answer for.
He definitely had a less than 7% chance of blocking that layup by Curry after getting blown by from the 3-point line as Steph deceived LeBron into thinking he was going to shoot with a well-disguised crossover dribble that caught him off guard.
