By: Sebastian Yan
On June 17th, Stephen Curry wrapped up his NBA finals journey with the Bill Russell Final’s MVP title. With an impressive average of 31 points per game, the 3-point expert was key to Golden State Warriors’ championship victory.
“You’ve never seen a guy his size dominate the league like this and just put the weight of everything on his shoulders throughout a Finals series,” Golden State forward Andre Iguodala told reporters after the finals game. In fact, out of all the players who won multiple championships and MVPs, no one other than Curry was shorter than 6’2”. To put it into perspective, the average height of the NBA is 6’7’’, an entire 5 inches taller than Stephen Curry, who has made up for his “below average” height with his exceptional talent, hard work, and selfless plays. As a result, he not only consistently delivered as a point guard, but also has led a dominant dynasty to win 4 championships in 8 years.
Curry’s greatness cannot only be defined by the awards and statistics. He, along with Warriors coach Steve Kerr, has revolutionized the way basketball teams have played, with a higher focus being placed on long-range shots. While critics have downplayed Curry for his lack of a finals MVP over the past 3 championship seasons, Curry was arguably still the most important player in those series. He was the key player, moving the ball around to teammates for better scoring opportunities. “It all starts with Steph,” Draymond Green said at the beginning of the Finals. “When KD was here, our offense still started with Steph, and that’s the way it’s going to be.” This year’s Game 5 against the Celtics was a perfect example of this. The Celtics were pressing hard on Curry, guarding him with 2 players way out the shooting territory. For the first time in his NBA career, Curry failed to score a single 3-pointer in the game. However, Curry was willing to make sacrifices and open up opportunities for his teammates, such as Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson, who scored an amazing 47 points combined to help the Warriors earn on with a 3-2 lead.
With this top performance in this year’s NBA finals, Steph Curry is far from being finished. Whether he is the star of the game or a valuable decoy, he is always ready to help the team. From here, he will fight for the 5th championship title with a young and passionate squad and hopefully continue the great Warriors’ Dynasty.