Curry vs. Westbrook: Who Is More Entertaining?

Every NBA fan has certain players that they like more than others. That’s why it’s so hard to definitively say that one player in the league is more exciting than another. It depends what it is you deem exciting, and whether or not a Nate Robinson slam dunk means more than a DeAndre Jordan three-point effort.

So while this is a near impossible question to ask, never mind answer, it’s accepted that both Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry are two of the best players in the league to watch on any given night.

They capture the imagination of fans in ways that few others can, and the way in which they do so is fascinating to watch unfold. Whether they start a game off strong or struggle initially, once they get going, social media blows up in a special way reserved for the best of the best.

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As a recent example, I watched Curry and the Golden State Warriors comeback win over the Los Angeles Clippers live and felt compelled to text a friend of mine at nearly 4 a.m. urging him to tune in and watch. Very few players can do that.

So asking to choose which one of them is more exciting is crazy, right? Both bring so much to the game, and they do it with some similarities, but an awful lot of differences as well. For the last two-plus years, whenever the question was put to me who I felt was the best player in the league to watch, the answer without hesitation was Westbrook.

He doesn’t just dunk the ball, he assaults rims on a near-nightly basis. He doesn’t just celebrate a big basket or a huge three-pointer, he pours his emotion all over the court.

I don’t quite remember Allen Iverson in his prime, but enough people have commented on how Westbrook is the closest thing we’ve seen to “The Answer” since he was attacking the basket with reckless abandon more than a decade ago.

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That in itself is a huge compliment when you consider how loved Iverson is. Luckily for Westbrook however, he plays on an Oklahoma City Thunder team that is better than any squad Iverson was ever a part of. So not only is he must see TV on his own, you know he’s going deep into the playoffs as long as he and Kevin Durant can stay healthy.

Even better, we saw last year when Durant went down just what Westbrook would be like carrying a team and it was amazing.

Including last season and the beginning of 2015-16, Westbrook has notched 13 triple-doubles. To put that into perspective, no other player bar the resurgent Rajon Rondo (seven, with four of those coming this season) has more than four. Westbrook does it all, and he does so while appearing not to care for his own well being. The snarling, barking, driving, it’s all glorious.

Yet when it’s time to let loose at the All-Star game, there is Westbrook smiling, happy, playing with controlled aggression. That performance allowed him to walk away with All-Star MVP honors last year, and it added another layer of intrigue to his overall package.

We don’t even need to speak about the occasionally prickly interviews he gives because, as much as that adds to who he is, it doesn’t take place on the court.

Russell Westbrook the basketball player is everything millions of us can never be, and that’s why he is so amazing. Not the biggest guy but capable of hurling himself through the air for thunderous dunks. Leading a team when he needs to, or settling into second in command and professing Durant to be the best player in the world when it’s necessary. He’s must watch at all times.

It’s clear then that I think Westbrook is a super talent. But at the tail end of 2014, when the San Antonio Spurs were avenging their previous year NBA finals loss to the Miami Heat, something began to happen. Stephen Curry, the one-time frail point guard with glass ankles and zero defensive ability, had really begun to break out as a star in the league.

At first it was just his shooting ability, but in time his all-around game would elevate itself to MVP calibre.

That’s exactly what happened as last season, Curry took home MVP honors and led the Warriors to a first title in 40 years. The manner in which he did so however, was in itself nothing short of sensational. The guy can pull up from anywhere past half-court and is the key to the beautiful Warriors machine as a whole working the way it does.

When he’s on, which is most nights, he requires his defender to follow him everywhere.

On those nights when less shots are falling, he still requires constant monitoring for fear he let rip from 30-plus feet and the ball goes through the hoop. It cannot be stressed enough how this affords his teammates, themselves great shooters for the most part, the space to score at a frightening rate as well.

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That run to the title was when the momentum began to shift away from Westbrook and towards Curry for me, and on Thursday night I finally figured out why. That Clippers game was the moment he became my favorite player to watch in the NBA.

Why? Well while Westbrook is everything I’m not, Curry has mastered the one art I also realistically could be good at if I spent enough time working on it. At less than six feet tall, I’m never going to dunk, and I don’t have the IQ to play well defensively or create opportunities for others.

But shooting, shooting is something we can all do. Just pick up a ball and throw it in the direction of the hoop. One will go in eventually.

Shooting is something we can all relate to, because it is the first thing anybody thinks of doing when they pick up a basketball. Curry has become stupidly good at doing this, it really is absurd, and yet it’s still somewhat relatable. Never mind that he’s become a great defensive player or one of the most well rounded point guards in the league with the best handle in the NBA.

He shoots the ball, and he shoots it well.

Before that wouldn’t have been enough for me to take him over Westbrook. Russ is just giving you so much more at all times. But while Westbrook is dogged and determined, Curry’s steely resolve is also addicting.

He started that eventual win against the Clippers poorly, yet he still ended up scoring 40 and grabbing 11 rebounds, another underrated part of his game (if you can say that about an MVP winner).

He’s not always emotional, but when he is, like when he absorbed a hard DeAndre Jordan foul and went to the line late in that game, you get caught up in the emotion with him. He’s mesmerizing, spellbinding, and in my opinion more exciting to watch than Russell Westbrook.

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Why? Well because he’s more relatable, a guy who worked hard to get to this point and who is continuing to get better. Oh and he shoots the basketball, really well. Yep, there’s that too.