The NBA turned three quarters of a century and in the best league in the world no one ever shot hoops like stephen curry. Nobody, among thousands and thousands of players in the history of elite basketball. The Chef had won three championships, eight appearances in the All-Star Game, two Most Valuable Player awards in two seasons, two top scorer titles and a place on the team for the 75th anniversary of the tournament, among 74 other chosen ones. He was too much for Steph to be there, in that caste. But it lacked something that many other greats have.
The MVP of a final. In the 2015 conquest he had kept it Andrew Iguodala, a bit surprisingly. In those of 2017 and 2018, Kevin Durant, a star of similar brilliance to Curry in the NBA constellation. And in all three cases the distinction was deserved. But this time, basketball did justice to a brilliant career: Golden State Warriors beat boston celtics by 4-2 in the final series and number 30 received the Bill Russell Trophy for best player in the series. “MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP! ”, Shouted his teammates when it was learned that Steph was the winner. They idolize him.
With Steph Curry there won’t be a documentary series in which peers criticize him for egomaniac years later: the rest of the Golden State squad reveres him. (ADAM GLANZMAN/)
Also the fans, of course. For now he is a “one club man”: always played in golden state, and has been wearing the blue and yellow jersey for 13 seasons. To the 34 yearsIt doesn’t look like it’s ever going to change. And although he knew what it was like to be a champion, the emotion overcame him. He weighed him down so much that he made him collapse with seconds left in the game at the Boston Garden for the 103-90 definitive. And Curry stayed there, sitting on that historic checkered parquet. Filmed, respected, without anyone getting in the way of his sensations.
She got up and her face was disfigured from crying. Happy crying, because Steph gives and receives joy. He is the guy who brings out the most smiles when he plays, to any fan: he hits those impossible shots, very long, with a mark, without time to put together the shot. He makes unusual celebrations, complicit gestures with the public. He naturally lives high-stakes basketball, as he saw when he adjusted his mouthguard before firing one of his bombs against Boston. And he’s not all his own scorer: as a point guard –although not a European or Argentinian point guard, of course–, he makes his teammates play. He scores but also passes the ball. Does he defend him? Not so much, it’s true. His thing is to attack. And have fun. And win.
Summary of Curry’s production in the series finale
It likes, also, because it is familiar. His parents are always in the stalls. He celebrates with them. Also, with his wife, with whom he kissed several times on the court before the award ceremony. In some match of this final he went to look at a special rival: Seth Curry, his younger brother, a player for the Dallas Mavericks. Good player. Not as much as this monster, of course.
Who left good MVP numbers in this decisive series against the most historic franchise in the NBA: 31.2 points, 48% efficiency between doubles and triples, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 robberies. Not on his best performance, but on average. They allowed him to catch up with some greats in a couple of stats. Steph Curry is the eighth basketball player that gathers Finals MVP Awards, Seasons MVP Awards, and Leading Scorer Titles, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Durant, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain. And it’s the sixth Most Valuable Player of a final with 34 years of age or older, a member of a group that includes Jordan, Abdul-Jabbar, James, Chamberlain and John Havlicek. Wow, what names.
And one day it was his turn: the Bill Russell Award for Most Valuable Player is in the hands of Curry, the best shooter in history, serial scorer, charismatic figure and four-time NBA champion; Klay Thompson holds up the Larry O’Brien, the team award. (ELSA/)
Two seasons ago, the Warriors had the worst win-loss record in the league. Undermined by injuries, he won 15 games and lost 50. His 23.1% effectiveness rate, almost ridiculous for such a franchise and such a squad, had an explanation: Steph played only five gamesinjured and operated in one handand his compadre Klay Thompson He did not star in one, because of a knee. He didn’t make it to the next tournament either, but because of a severed Achilles tendon. Golden State did not even make the playoffs that time either, in 2020/2021.
Now, today, he is champion. He won three straight chapters in the series against a heavy jersey in the league and was crowned an NBA cathedral. With a leader, in sports and in human terms, who, despite obtaining that golden trophy that he lacked, the only important one he did not possess, did not even speak of it when he was asked on the podium about the award, with the world listening to him “When we got to the playoffs we weren’t on anyone’s radar,” he warned. The plural over the individual. Stephen Curry is clear about what collective sport is about. And the affection that those who occupy the same locker room have for him is not only born of admiration for how he plays.
It’s not all about throwing accuracy on Stephen Curry; dribbles and drives to the rim are other of his virtues, which he displays against Boston’s Marcus Smart.
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Stephen Curry is the best shooter in history and won championships, but never the NBA Finals MVP award: one day basketball did justice