Fans like to argue about their favorite players. Because of the nature of competition in sports, competition is bred between fanbases as well; Who’s more skilled, who’s the better player, who’s greater, who contributes more to winning. You can argue something as simple as shot mechanics and, no matter how ridiculous a take it is, someone is bound to agree.

But when it comes to the players themselves, it may shock people to realize that beyond matching up head-to-head, hoopers don’t care much about how they stack up on the specifics. Anyone who’s played basketball at a competitive level knows that you don’t evaluate yourself against another hooper by talking about things like percentages or mid-range jumpers: If you know, you know.

And that’s what a great player like Kyrie Irving does. Irving is widely-regarded as a master of his craft, doing things on the court that you rarely see anymore outside of the game’s purists. For all the wild Kyrie takes out there, when you just watch him play and don’t throw him in the comparison game, he’s a very skilled player, and people shouldn’t try to take that from him. Especially when he shows love to a guy that everyone wants to pit him against.

After the Warriors and the Nets played last night, the statlines would have pointed to a better game from Irving, and up until the 4th quarter, that was absolutely true: Kyrie looked like the best guard on the court in a game featuring the Splash Brothers who, just a night ago, had their first game where each splashes 5+ threes since Klay Thompson went down. But when the 4th quarter started - and more importantly, when it ended - it was the Warriors who pulled ahead on a collective 23 points on efficient shooting from the pair. Steph had 14, and Klay had 9. If you forego the statistics, it was an excellent performance to close out a Nets team that was elevated by Irving’s play.

Kyrie felt that. Despite having 32 points, he only shot 2-for-7 in the 4th quarter - uncharacteristic for a closer of his talent - albeit with one of those two being a near-game tying shot before Thompson shut the lights off with a triple of his own. Irving had a lot of praise for the pair, but he specifically focused on the 4th quarter performance of the guy he’s always stacked up against: Steph Curry.

“I love Steph, man. The guy has completely revolutionized the game… Me as a point guard or lead guard on my team growing up in Cleveland at the time, he was the guy that really set that standard” Irving said postgame, according to nba.com’s Mark Medina. “Being able to break down his defenders and being able to take three guys with him everywhere that he goes, you wouldn’t be a true student of the game if you were not watching somebody like that and trying to not only keep up, and challenge his position.”

Irving and Curry are familiar opponents, as both started to hit the stride of their primes around the same time. They were often compared as the 1a and 1b point guards, although some of Irving’s off-court issues denigrated people’s opinions of him as a player. He’s an excellent scorer, one of the more talented around, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to really show it like that because of who he’s played with, both players and coaches alike. Warriors fans as well are unfortunately very familiar with one of the greatest shots of all-time in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals. As a believer that the series should have been over in 5 for a myriad of reasons, that was a damn-tough shot.

While Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry will always be compared side by side - despite being two relatively different players who use their similar skills to different ends - it’s good to see that there’s no love lost between two of the purest hoopers the game has ever seen. Influential in their own ways, they will go down in history as some of the game’s best point guards. While Kyrie’s lack of awards won’t get him the recognition other all-time greats do, it should be noted that he’s right up there with Steph in terms of skill. Who’s ultimately better is up for debate and based on how you view the game, but one thing can’t be denied: Their soft rivalry defines a whole generation of hoop.

(Photo credit: Bleacher Report)