The San Antonio Spurs fell to the Golden State Warriors in the first game of a brief home series, and Stephen Curry gave second-year guard Stephon Castle trouble on the defensive end.
The San Antonio Spurs couldn't keep up with Stephen Curry. The Golden State Warriors handed them their first home loss of the season, beating them 125-120. Curry finished with a season-high mark of 46 points, making 15 of his 16 free throws.
Curry has long been known as one of the most mobile players in NBA history. Even when he doesn't have the ball, he's sprinting or putting the moves on defenders to get open. Second-year guard Stephon Castle was largely tasked with guarding him, but he didn't think it was the movement that gave him the most trouble.
Instead, Castle blamed the officials for not letting him get physical. He picked up three quick first-half fouls, which limited his defensive intensity.
"It's tough," said Castle of guarding Curry. "You can't really relax at all with him. So you really test your mental when guarding him. I feel like just picking up those early fouls and having to switch off of them got him going, and then once you get a player like that going, it's hard to stop him."
Curry finished the game shooting 13 of 25 from the floor (52%). When Castle guarded him, that number fell to 50%, not a big decrease, although Curry had a tough time getting shots up.
As Castle got into foul trouble, however, he was unable to keep up with Curry and bring his normal physicality. He hopes that Friday's chance at revenge will give him an opportunity to polish over any mistakes.
"I feel like the second game, after you've seen them very recently, it'll be even more competitive," he added. "Not just it being a Cup game, but just being able to see them again and being on the losing side of it definitely gives us some motivation going into Friday."
On Friday, both the Spurs and Warriors will be well-rested and mostly healthy. For Golden State, that means Curry at his best. For the Spurs, they will hope that Castle can contain him and get friendlier whistles. The Spurs enjoyed Castle's first career triple-double in the loss, and are hoping he can build on it in a successful team outing.
Expect the second matchup to be a litmus test for the crowded Western Conference, allowing fans to get whipped up into a championship frenzy if the Spurs can make the most of their second opportunity at home against Golden State.