NBA’s top two scorers Steph Curry, Luka Doncic to face off in Western Conference finals rematch

DALLAS — Tuesday’s rematch of the Western Conference finals will be a high-interest game across the country. Not because major stakes are on the line this early in the season, but because the nationally televised game will feature two of the best guards the league has seen in years.

Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry are the NBA’s top two scorers, respectively, and both have opened the season building strong cases to be in the early conversation for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award.

Not that Curry is paying much attention. Curry said he doesn’t follow the chatter surrounding the NBA MVP Award like he did earlier in his career. Nonetheless, he’s probably heard the talk from those wondering when Doncic will finally overshadow Curry’s dominance and become the king of the Western Conference.

The Warriors’ superstar, though, has shown no signs of slowing down or allowing the changing of the guards to happen any time soon.

Curry’s name had slipped out of the MVP conversation in recent years. Part of that was the result of the Warriors suffering two down seasons riddled with adversity before reasserting themselves as the league’s best team last spring to win their fourth title of the Curry era. Another factor could be voter fatigue after Curry won back-to-back MVP honors in 2015 and 2016.

But six weeks into the season, there’s no doubt Curry belongs back in the middle of the debate.

Curry is putting up numbers that rival his MVP seasons. His 31.4 points per game are second only to Doncic, who’s averaging a league-leading 33.1. Curry is also notching 7.1 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game this season, and he leads the league in 3s made with 98 — which is 26 more than second-place Malik Beasley shootert.

What’s been most impressive about Curry’s numbers is how efficient he is. He’s posting shooting splits of 52.5/44.1/91.1. He’s the only member in the elite 40-50-90 club this season among the league’s top 50 scorers. And it’s also noteworthy that Curry’s impact extends beyond the numbers. He’s also an elite playmaker and floor spacer, which helps his teammates get going offensively. Curry has also made immense improvements on the defensive end of his game as well.

“The beauty of Steph is that he keeps just getting better, he keeps working harder and adding something to his game and he’s never been better,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Voting is just, that’s more political, human nature stuff, but as far as his play, he’s better now than he was as a back-to-back MVP. The voting is just so subjective.”

Tuesday will mark the first time the Warriors and Mavericks have met since Curry and his teammates got the best of Doncic last May — beating Dallas in the Western Conference finals in five games. Doncic did outscore Curry in the series — 32.0 points per game to 23.8 — but the Warriors star was much more efficient. Curry shot 44.4 percent on field goals, including a whopping 43.9 on 3-pointers, compared to Doncic’s 41.5 percent shooting and 34.0 on 3s.

For years, Doncic, who finished fourth in MVP voting last season, has seemed poised to surpass Curry, who finished ninth. The 24-year-old Mavericks star is averaging 8.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game this season while shooting 50.4% from the field. But Curry has yet to succumb to the Slovenian wunderkind, who is 10 years younger.

Curry, who’s playing some of the best basketball of his career, doesn’t mind the comparisons. It’s human nature to search for the next best thing.

“I’m 10 years older than him, and so it’s part of the way the league works with wondering how long people can stay at that level and the new guys coming in,” Curry said Monday after practice. “He’s an amazing player, we had a great series last year. He’s gotten even better this year. So whatever the conversation, like whose time it is, whose turn it is and all that, it’s just part of the nature of what we do. And when you play at a high level, we just want to be in those conversations…

“He is an unbelievable talent, he’s going to be around for a very long time, and who knows how high he can climb but we’re still doing it, too.”