CJ McCollum: Stephen Curry is "The Most Well-Conditioned Athlete I've Ever Seen"

After a stellar performance in Game 2, Stephen Curry is earning praise from his peers and colleagues.

Stephen Curry played 32 minutes in Game 2 of the NBA Finals and was in constant motion.

With a game-high 29 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists, Curry was undoubtably the most active player on the court. Monday morning, New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum recognized Curry's effort on ESPN's "This Just In."

"He's one of the most well-conditioned athletes I've ever seen, regardless of sport," McCollum said. "Constantly moving without the basketball, constantly dribbling, constantly passing, hitting threes when he's tired, hitting threes from deep."

McCollum knows a thing or two about playing Curry, particularly in the NBA Playoffs. In fact, during Golden State's dominant run over the last eight years, McCollum as a member of the Portland Trailblazers played Curry and the Warriors 13 times. 

Golden State was 12-1 in those affairs and recorded two series sweeps against Portland, including the 2019 Western Conference Finals.

For Curry, Sunday came with a sense of desperation, knowing the immense value Game 2 posed on the series. On top of his offensive output, he was also asked to perform on the defensive side of the ball — a skillset he is far from known for. 

"You look at last night, defensively, he was more engaged, he was more active," McCollum said. "He understood that this game needed to have a different level of urgency than Game 1. They go down 0-2, this series is over and they knew that."

Often, Curry was left as a lone perimeter defender after being switched onto larger Celtics players through screens. This put the two-time league MVP in tough matchups, severely undersized. 

Showing his development as a defender, though, Curry came up huge, recording a trio of steals and several well-timed stops to assist game-swinging Golden State runs.

"He got switched on to Al Horford, held him up in the post and forced a tough jump hook," McCollum said. "He was switching on Jaylen Brown, he was switching on Jayson Tatum and at times could send the double but they were letting him hold his own on an island which shows you the confidence Kerr, Draymond and the rest of the staff have in him."