National team: USA
Club: Golden State Warriors (NBA)
Position: Point guard
Connor Sports: How are things looking for the team ahead of the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain? Anthony Davis and Kenneth Faried have been impressive in the preparation games…
Stephen Curry: “We’re very versatile. Having six big guys that can rotate between the 4 and 5 positions gives us that presence. We’re very deep, so we still have opportunities to go small and play fast, but as those guys can defend the paint, rebound, block shots and then turn to easy offense by the way they run the floor, it’s pretty hard to score against us and defend at the other end. It definitely looks good, but we have still got some gelling to do.”
Connor Sports: How would you describe the team’s offensive play at this moment?
Stephen Curry: “It’s pretty good. We’re still learning about knowing where everybody is, but we have so many weapons around the floor. We have got to figure out how to continue to get in the paint and keep it moving because with our speed we’re pretty tough to guard against when we do that. We showed that in the second half against Slovenia (a 101-71 victory on Tuesday) when we got a lot of open shots just by how fast we moved.”
Connor Sports: What do you remember about the previous edition of the event in Turkey in 2010 and how long it took to get up to speed?
Stephen Curry: “All of the pool games are important. You try to play your best every night and it’s all about getting a little bit better, but we didn’t blow everybody out. There were some tough games. So we have high expectations of playing well against Finland (in Team USA’s opening pool game on August 30), but we will not get discouraged if it it’s not perfect.”
Connor Sports: Do you feel any more pressure if you’re not blowing teams away?
Stephen Curry: “No, it keeps us focused. We understand the talent that is going to be in front of us to get a gold medal. We just have to battle and stick to the programme because eventually we feel like we’ll be able to take control of any game.”
Connor Sports: There were a lot of ‘Curry’ jerseys in the stands for the Slovenia game. Is this tournament your chance to go to the next level?
Stephen Curry: “It’s a great opportunity. You’re playing in front of international fans that follow our game throughout the course of the season, and we definitely appreciate that kind of support worldwide. I’m going to take advantage of the three weeks that we’re in Spain to play well and get some experience on the court and continue to get better, and just enjoy how much the fans love basketball and the NBA.”
Connor Sports: Will you pay attention to what is happening in the other groups?
Stephen Curry: “I don’t know how many games we’ll actually get to watch, but we’ll definitely keep up with how the pools are playing out. There are some big teams playing against each other so you’ve got to pay attention and know what’s going on, but we’re only going to prepare for our opponent one game at a time.”
About Connor Sports
Connor Sports has been a Technical Partner of FIBA since 1994, and are the official court provider to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain (30 August - 14 September).
For more information, please visit www.connorsports.com and follow on twitter (@connor_sports)
