Defending Stephen Curry is an experience in itself. It can be frustrating for defenders tasked with containing him to their best capabilities. Every person in the arena is aware of his preferred weapons. However, the sheer volume of activity he produces before making his maneuver is astonishing. For fellow guards, it’s a nightmare. One tiring night, that without adequate rest becomes suffocating. Donovan Mitchell never makes that mistake.

The Cavaliers cornerstone is widely seen as a scoring guard. However, since coming to Cleveland, he has dedicated time to evolving his game and made tremendous improvements as a perimeter defender. But in the case of Curry, no matter how confident he is to outdo the Warriors ace, Mitchell knows he will need every possible anecdote to recover during his time matched up against the renowned shooter.

“I got to get in that cold stuff,” Mitchell told Carmelo Anthony.

The primary reason behind it is alluded to the Warriors’ ball movement system. Despite Curry averaging 26.4 points last season, his time per possession is merely 5.1 seconds. Compared to other volume-scoring guards such as Jalen Brunson or Doncic who take up a third of the shot clock, it’s a startling disparity. Through the Bay’s schemes, Curry is never stationary but rather often hunting for a pocket of space to set his feet.

“Steph, it’s just cause you gotta run with that mother****er,” Mitchell stressed while on the 7 PM in Brooklyn podcast. 

On average, Curry covers over 2.40 miles in a game, one of the most among guards in the NBA. Furthermore, the ferocity with which he does it tends to tire most defenders. On offense, he runs at a speed of 4.9 miles, a feat that requires ludicrous amounts of stamina and conditioning. Account for his regular change in speed and direction and its havoc on the opposition.

A day prior to facing Curry as opposed to LeBron James or Kevin Durant, two of the most prolific modern-day scorers look a lot different for Donovan Mitchell. Since they aren’t his direct rivals, he doesn’t have to stress over the prospect of guarding them. It’s more of an output battle with them. But with The Chef, he has to stay on his toes and be vigilant about his placement every second.

And the best of the best suffer from this problem.

Stephen Curry is an “alien”

Donovan Mitchell being the focal offensive pivot has other responsibilities on his agenda during every game. Even if he can’t successfully shut off Curry, he has other ways to cause an impact. But what about the guys who are considered the ‘best’ at being hounding defenders? It’s a nod Kevin Durant gave to Jrue Holiday. As a matter of fact, Curry himself named the former Bucks stopper as the greatest challenge he faced.

His praise for the Baby Face Assassin is much greater than that of Mitchell. “He’s an alien!” he told JJ Redick. Even as one of the most esteemed point-of-attack defenders, Holiday has to resort to using “tricks” to frustrate the likes of Curry. Being a textbook defender is never an answer. Holiday relies on grabbing arms and using physicality to interfere with Curry’s rhythm.

Despite all of those methods though, Stephen Curry getting buckets is almost inevitable. The range at which he operates is simply too great for a single man’s coverage. In that particular regard, Holiday recalled fouling Curry at mid-court to deter him from taking one of his audacious threes. “He still almost made it. Hit the back of the rim and they didn’t call the foul. I’m like what is wrong with you?”.

Kobe Bryant was among the players who cherished meticulously studying to get an edge on his rivals. But with Stephen Curry, he noticed a deadly calmness about him. Many misses in a row won’t affect him like a typical basketball player. Curry boasts a ‘next shot’ mentality and once he smells nylon, the two-time MVP has his range locked.

The most daunting proof of it came during the Paris Olympics. Before the semifinals, he had only managed to make five of his 20 threes. The cold spell would lead to most players refraining from going back to the perimeter. But Curry keeps launching and over the final two games, he was the USA’s destructive weapon, hitting 17 threes in that stretch.

Predicting him is nearly impossible, and hoping he stops shooting is futile. One can only hope those shots don’t fall. Maybe that’s the only way to stop Curry.