Joking Curry: ‘I'll have to play defense' against Lawson, Rockets

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Editor's note: The above video is from Oct. 7, 2015.

OAKLAND – Houston guard James Harden, who finished second to Steph Curry in the MVP voting, continues to express his opinion that voters got it wrong.

And Rockets point guard Ty Lawson took an over swipe at Curry’s defense shortly after being traded by Denver to Houston in July.

And there is your primary subplot when the Warriors travel to Houston this weekend to face the Rockets, from whom they swept four games last season before taking four of five in the Western Conference Finals.

Harden is chattering. Lawson is chattering. It’s as if a rematch with their conference finals opponent weren’t enough motivation for these teams.

“We had great success against them last year,” Curry said Wednesday, “But that’s because we were focused every single night to the game plan and sticking to it.

“The only thing is I’ll have to play defense this year.”

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Curry was joking, just barely, but that’s about as far as he typically goes in his verbal response to slights. He generally makes light of them – until he steps on the court.

That certainly was the case Tuesday night, when Curry lit up the Pelicans from the start, riding 24 first-quarter points to a 40-point night. New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry, a member of the Warriors staff last season, commented over the summer that Pelicans star Anthony Davis was the No. 2 player in the NBA, behind only LeBron James.

Curry laughed off Gentry’s comment then and now. He let his game provide his response.

“There was a lot of conversation about it when it happened,” Curry said of winning the MVP vote. “I always say people have a certain way of handling things that’s comfortable for them, whether that’s motivating themselves a certain way or trying to have a chip on their shoulder to try and propel (them) to greater things down the road.

"I don’t let that bother me in any sense. So I’m pretty comfortable in what I’m doing here and what we did last year.”

Curry is standing on facts. His team defeated Harden’s Rockets en route to winning the NBA Championship. Curry won the MVP vote on ballots cast by media. Harden, however, was the winner among ballots cast by players – reportedly by a single vote.

“He had a great year,” Curry said of Harden. “It’s not like he didn’t play at a high level all year and do what he needed to do for his team.

“It would have been nice to get that one as well. So I’m going to keep trying to get better and try to do it again and have a better season than I did last year.

“But at the end of the day, I’ve been blessed to have a nice trophy at my house and have a ring with my team. And I’m going to enjoy what I was able to accomplish and not really focus on what didn’t happen.”

That is, until he steps on the court.

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