Any prolific “little-man” guard that emerges in the game going forward is considered a basketball descendant of Allen Iverson. As Stephen Curry went from a great young talent to dominating the NBA, his name and Iverson’s naturally started crossing paths.
Iverson is officially being inducted into the Hall of Fame, and Curry talked to Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com about what it meant to him being able to watch Iverson play growing up:
“He was a guy I loved watching, just his entertainment value and knowing his story,” Curry recently told CSNPhilly.com. “It was inspiring just to know that you can defy a lot of odds and be yourself while you’re out there on the court playing and changing the game. Everybody used to imitate his crossover moves, obviously starting with the one on [Michael] Jordan and every other one that he did in his career.”
Curry can specifically recall watching Iverson in the 2001 playoffs when the Philadelphia 76ers played the Toronto Raptors in the conference semifinals. Curry’s father, Dell Curry, was a member of that Raptors team that lost to Iverson’s Sixers in seven games:
My dad was on that Toronto team so we went to the games, watched,” Curry, who was a teenager at the time, said. “You’d see him out on the floor and you just kind of didn’t think what he was doing was possible. His motor never stopped. His competitiveness and desire out there, he played with so much spirit and passion. You loved watching A.I. play because of what he brought to the table.”
Iverson and Curry do contrast in style on the surface, with Curry as the insane three-point shooting threat and Iverson and the relentless slasher. They’re still bonded by their lack of supreme height, strength, or athleticism in a game that emphasizes those components. Iverson was an early example for Curry of someone that could dominate the game despite being undersized.
We know that there’s mutual admiration between Iverson and Curry, because they’ll always be linked as prolific smaller guards that changed the game in their own ways.
