"Fear factor" - Steph Curry's former teammate picks Kyrie Irving as most clutch player citing his exceptional ball-handling skills
Steph Curry's former teammate, Andre Iguodala, had a chance to play with some of the league's best players in his time. Aside from that, the competition he encountered was also at a grand level. Choosing which player puts more fear into someone could be challenging, but Iguodala already named which player he's scared of.
Iguodala was part of the Golden State Warriors team that won four titles in six finals.
The 2015 Finals MVP appeared on "The Ryen Russillo Podcast" and was asked by the host which player he fears when the score is tied in a playoff situation. According to Iguodala, it's former Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving.
"Kyrie Irving," Iguodala said. "It's not even close.
"For the last second shot, I'm going with Kyrie. You're talking about fear factor, at any given moment or for that moment, Kyrie." ... "He's just so good. You can't get the ball out of his hands." ... "You talk about fear factor? You ask anybody in the league, that's a scary guy."
The one-time All-Star still gave credit to his teammate Steph Curry. According to him, if Curry has the ball in his hands, he will command the defense to put an extra man on him. However, if there ever came a situation where the defense gets to take the ball out of his hands, the star guard wouldn't be as effective, according to Iguodala.
The former Arizona star shared that it's difficult to get the ball out of Irving's hands as he's lauded as the best ball-handler. With that, he can find any weakness on the defense and score at will.
Former Cavs player shared that Steph Curry was afraid to guard Irving
Both Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving had co-existed in the NBA long before their battles in the finals. In 2015, the two guards crossed paths for the first time on the biggest stage. Fans were expecting them to match up against each other.
However, the defensive strategies of each team were different, and Irving suffered an injury midway through the series. They had another chance to take on each other the following year when the Warriors won 73 games. But former Cavaliers shooting guard Iman Shumpert said that Curry was scared to guard the former Duke star.
"We realized Steph wasn't trying to match up with Kyrie," Shumpert said (via All The Smoke podcast). "All we took it as, 'Oh, you scared of this dude? You scared of buddy?' So, we just fed him."
It's known that Curry isn't the best defender in his team. This is why Klay Thompson often takes on the defensive assignment of guarding Irving. But that didn't stop the 2014 All-Star game MVP from dominating the series. He even helped Cleveland secure their title win.