Andre Iguodala Calls Out Steph Curry’s Haters on ‘First Take’

The Golden State Warriors were defeated by the Toronto Raptors. Stephen Curry was great throughout the Finals, but he played a low game in the fourth quarter of Game 6. He shot just 1-for-6 from the field and missed the game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds. In other words, a lot of people hate him at the moment. Andre Iguodala called out Curry’s haters on ESPN’s First Take.

“I’ve never seen a guy that’s so humble and has such a great heart receive so much hate,” Iggy said.

“We feel it from the media,” he added. “He’s carrying a whole shoe brand. He’s got his own media company now. He’s doing so many great things.”

Andre Iguodala discussing the hate Steph Curry receives: pic.twitter.com/WJKUl6a2Rw

— Chris Montano (@gswchris) June 21, 2019

This isn’t the first time Iguodala defends Curry.

“I like Steph,” Iguodala said in one of his recent interviews. “He’s a good dude, good guy to be around. That’s really the only reason why I like playing basketball. That’s the only reason why I play.”

Iguodala was also aware of the criticism Curry faced this season.

“I’ve never seen it in a person, such a good person ever get some backlash or whatever from his peers because they’re so jealous of what he has. So, just kind of sticking it to them,” Iguodala said. “Whatever it takes to protect his legacy, I’m all for it.”

Curry knows there are a lot of people out there who don’t like him. He has already addressed the criticism his team faces on a regular basis.

“I feel like for the last three years, everybody has taken their shots at trying to nitpick or break us down or drive a wedge in our team chemistry or our togetherness or whatever the case is,” Curry said. “And even this year, it’s been amplified even more with (Durant’s) free-agency stuff. Nobody can say anything without it getting scrutinized or criticized. Nobody can be happy when people are playing well. That’s the part, to me, that’s most surprising. If it’s KD playing well, it’s ‘Oh, they’re playing a different style and it’s not as fun to watch.’ Or when he’s out and we’re winning games, ‘Are we better or more fun,’ whatever the question is, you hear it all the time.”

Losing in the Finals was really tough, and Curry thought that his team would win.

“Tough, tough way to go out. Credit Toronto on a great series, they went out and won it. They played amazing tonight, all across the board they had contributions. It’s a tough feeling being on this side, losing in the Finals. But I think a lot has been proven about who we are as a team and the fight that we have with all the adversity we’ve dealt with through this entire play-off run. 

“It’s a one-possession game to keep our season alive tonight. We’ll be thinking about this one. It’s tough. But our DNA and who we are the character that we have on this team, I wouldn’t bet against us being back on this stage again next year and going forward.

“I’m really proud of the way we fought to the end and this five-year run [of going to the NBA Finals] has been awesome but I definitely don’t think it’s over. It’s just tough in terms of a guy like Klay like that left it all out there, he was playing amazing tonight.”