Stephen Curry has outplayed 3 MVP candidates in 9 days on the road

It was impossible to give Stephen Curry MVP consideration at the beginning of the season. After all, his team had just successfully snaked an ex-MVP in Kevin Durant, and he was playing alongside three other All-Stars.

But Curry has ravaged the three top contenders for the league’s most coveted award. He’s done so without Kevin Durant, who will be re-evaluated in a week after sitting out four with an MCL sprain. And he’s done so as part of a nine-game winning streak that’s all but cemented Golden State’s standing atop the Western Conference.

In three games against the MVP frontrunners, Curry is averaging 28 points, eight assists, and 5.3 rebounds. He’s shooting 47.5 percent from the field and has made 14 of 31 three-point attempts. And he’s jolted his Warriors past a four-game slump that had many question whether the team could succeed without their free agent signee.

Against these three superstars, Curry answers “hell yeah.”

Steph Curry: 23 points (8-of-17 shooting), seven threes, six assists
Russell Westbrook: 15 points (4-of-16 shooting), eight rebounds, seven assists

Westbrook plays with emotion. That goes without saying. But his emotions triple against a Warriors team that snaked his ex-MVP teammate over the summer.

Curry took full advantage, drubbing the Thunder for seven triples and coming out on the winning side of a first-half scuffle with Oklahoma City’s triple double machine.

Steph Curry: 32 points (11-of-22 shooting, 4-of-8 on threes), 10 rebounds, seven assists
James Harden: 24 points (5-of-20 shooting, 1-of-9 on threes), 11 rebounds, 13 assists

While the Golden State defense sapped Harden of his powers, Curry ran rampant around the perimeter. He scalded the Rockets from everywhere on the floor and rounded out his night setting teammates up time and time again.

Steph Curry: 29 points (9-of-20 shooting, 4-of-8 on threes), 11 assists, two turnovers
Kawhi Leonard: 19 points (7-of-20 shooting, 0-of-5 on threes), seven rebounds, five assists, five turnovers

Leonard couldn’t find his stroke from three, and the Warriors defense smothered him every time he attacked the paint. Meanwhile, Curry put together a masterful performance, “dishing and swishing” his way to another victory over an MVP caliber player.

If he wasn’t pelting the Spurs from deep or probing into the paint to finish at the rim, he took advantage of San Antonio’s over aggressive defense to find open teammates.

The Warriors’ defense has a way of reducing a talented player to ash and forcing the supplementary players to step up. When that doesn’t happen, Golden State wins big.

But Curry’s play has carried a Warriors’ team that had to make up Durant’s production when he went down in early March. He’s got another matchup against the Rockets on Friday and a floor general showdown against the Wizards and John Wall on April 2.

If Curry continues to mow down the top players as he’s done during this stretch, it might be time to throw his hat back into the MVP discussion.