Both Stephen Curry and James Harden entered the league as top prospects in the 2009 NBA Draft. While The Beard was chosen with the third overall pick by the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Golden State Warriors selected Steph with the seventh pick.
From then on, they have formed a rivalry in the West. In fact, one of the reasons Harden couldn’t win a ring yet is because Curry stood in his way with a star-studded Warriors team on many occasions.
On Thursday night, it was Harden who got the upper hand as the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Dubs 121-113 at home. The Beard put on a show with 28 points, 7 rebounds, 15 assists, and four blocked shots. After the game, Curry showed nothing but praise for the former MVP.
“Ultimate respect,” Curry said of Harden, via ClutchPoints. “We’re in the same draft class. A lot of battles back and forth and the fact that we’re still doing it. We don’t spend much time together off the court, but there’s always that smile when I see a guy like that because I know, we both know, how much it takes to perform at the level that we’ve been at for so long and none of us wanna see it kinda go away.“
James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets guards Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors during Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2019 NBA Playoffs.
James Harden’s historic night
Apart from putting up some impressive numbers to help the Clippers make it five wins in a row, Harden reached 25,000 career points in the third quarter. Of course, Curry had something to say about that too.
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“All those milestones, they’re reminders of how dope it is to do what we get to do and at the level that we’ve been doing it,” Curry added. “When I actually heard it during the game, I actually took a second and was cool to reflect on the journey, but still wanna go out there and beat him. He still wants to beat me and until it’s all said and done, that’s the competition.”
It’s safe to say it was quite the night for Harden. However, the 34-year-old made it clear he doesn’t care that much about his personal stats, as long as his team keeps on winning.
“The win [is most important],” Harden said. “It doesn’t matter if I get 10 points tonight. Winning is the key. The stats and everything, I’ve done a lot of different things. Accomplished a lot of different individual stats. To me, it’s about winning, about building chemistry throughout the team. To get better as a unit. I think tonight was another step forward for us as a unit.“
Harden’s record against Curry
This was the 56th game between Curry and Harden. While the regular season record gives Harden the edge (20-16), Steph emerged victorious on most occasions when it came to playoff meetings (14-6).
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Therefore, it makes sense Harden is not celebrating too much these kinds of nights. The guard is not getting any younger, and this may be one of his last opportunities to chase that elusive championship. That’s why he will take his time to enjoy his personal records and stats.
“Once it’s all said and done, I’ll definitely sit back and kind of, you know, have an overall picture of what I did I accomplish, you know what mean. But now, I’m just in a moment, you know what I mean?,” said Harden.
