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The Portland Trailblazers suffered a heartbreaking loss in Game Two of the NBA Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors. One thing that stood out in this game was the tight battle between the Curry brothers, Warriors star Stephen Curry and Blazers guard Seth Curry.
The Athletic’s Ethan Strauss wrote about how the match up between the two brothers culminated into more than just a war of feelings in Game Two, with both putting up big numbers for their teams. [subscription required]
And yet, what happened in the middle of the Warriors’ Game 2 comeback win over the Blazers in the Western Conference finals was, admittedly, pretty cool. Even the cynical among us would have to concede as much. Steph and Seth Curry finally, truly squared off in a playoff game, and the experience completely delivered, with Steph again putting up big numbers (38 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) and Seth putting up an efficient 16 points and a +13 and generally taking it to his brother as an indefatigable nuisance.
Strauss pointed out how the match up had little to do with basketball originally, but has evolved into something of actual basketball importance, specifically in regards to how Seth Curry played his brother defensively.
That aspect, the defense specifically, is what made this matchup so compelling. National broadcasters lean on Steph vs. Seth as a human interest story to draw casual fans, but the topic doesn’t appear to have much basketball relevance. On Thursday, in a close game, that fraternal bond seemed to actually matter a whole lot, specifically because Seth appeared to have certain Steph moves and decisions clocked.
This likely means that Seth Curry watches more Warriors than just about any NBA player not on the Warriors. Perhaps that’s an incidental tidbit, except, in Game 2, Seth seemed to know where Steph was going with the ball before certain plays unfolded.
Strauss also touches on a variety of other things, such as how Steph vs. Seth is analogous to Anton vs. Vincent in the 1997 film “Gattaca”. You can read the whole article here.