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Defense
When talking about two offensively superb players like Curry and Harden, it’d be easy to forget that there are two ends of the floor. Before this past summer with Team USA Basketball, both were seen as incapable defenders — Curry for his lack of size and know-how, Harden because…well the dude was lazy on the ball and constantly fell asleep off the ball.
This season, both players have vastly improved their defense. Curry can hang with the elite point guards in the West on the defensive end and was leading the league in steals for a considerable portion of the season; Harden is actually trying on defense, he (usually) pays attention off the ball and he’s averaging nearly as many steals per game as Curry.
According to NBA.com, Curry’s defensive rating (97.1) is much better than Harden’s (102.1), but consider Curry plays on the league’s best defense while Harden is on the NBA’s sixth best defense. That’s not to say Harden is a better defender, but the two are tied in defensive win shares (4.1 each), per Basketball-Reference.
Working on a Curry's defense article right now. Might take another week or so. Upshot is he's much better than his rep on D
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) March 18, 2015
As ESPN’s Ethan Strauss covered in full detail, however, Curry has actually evolved into a very good defender; Harden is just “not as bad.” Curry’s quick hands help him strip opponents, he’s much more consistent with on-the-ball pressure and thanks to his amazingly high basketball IQ, he’s continued to develop into quite the reader of passing lanes.
Curry holds his opponents to 40.8 percent shooting, per NBA.com, which is 2.6 percent worse than those opponents would normally shoot. Harden, by comparison, holds opponents to 42.7 percent shooting, which is 1.9 percent worse than they’d normally shoot.
Harden is better at defending three-pointers than Curry, per NBA.com, and he’s also a better shot-blocker (0.7 per game compared to Curry’s 0.2). But Harden is still prone to occasional bouts of defensive laziness on the nights where he has to carry Houston’s offense, and overall, it’s not a stretch to say Curry has become the superior defender.
Advantage: Curry
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