Steph Curry and James Harden have had so many battles over the years, dating back to those playoff series between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets. While Harden is now with the LA Clippers playing a much different role than he was in those years with Houston, he is still a very high-level player who had an incredible night vs. Golden State on Thursday.
When asked after the game about Harden reaching 25,000 career points, Curry said, “Ultimate respect. 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 we both know how much it takes to perform at the level that we’ve been at for so long. None of us want to see it go away. Those milestones are reminders of how dope it is to get to do what we get to do and at the level we’ve been doing it.”
Curry added that of course both players want to beat each other, but there is still a level of appreciation they have for the level of play and competition their battles bring out in one another. That was again on display in this game, with Harden winning this battle.