Stephen Curry: Mind Over Matter

When we approached March, Stephen Curry was having arguably the greatest individual season of all-time; but fast forward three months later, a bruised and battered Chef is facing scrutiny for his regressed play on the NBA’s biggest stage.

Is he hurt?  Is he healthy?

When he drops 38, or erupts for 17 points in overtime, he looks fine.  When he goes 4-of-15 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, he’s still favoring his knee.

The regular season marked one of the greatest individual seasons of all-time from Stephen Curry.

Not only did the Baby-Faced Assassin lead his Golden State Warriors to an NBA-record 73 wins, he also finished top-10 all-time in player efficiency rating, win shares per 48 minutes, and box plus-minus, per Basketball-Reference.

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Some have even argued Curry may have enjoyed the best individual season ever, all things considered.

But the Vine-inducing play Steph blessed us with for the better part of the year has suddenly tapered off.   It’s not just the playoffs, or more specifically, post-knee sprain — Curry’s drop off has been a gradual progression since his ridiculous run in February.

Sure, from March on, the two-time reigning MVP still averaged a sultry 28.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game on a TS% of 0.633, but those numbers were already a bit down from the 30.7 points on an unfathomable 0.685 TS% he put up for the first 56 games of the year.

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As most contending teams exploited the luxury of resting their star players during the stretch run of the season in late March and early April, the Warriors were hell bent on breaking the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins.

Back in early April, Golden State — and in particular, Curry — were already showing signs of fatigue.

However, as we approach Game 6 of the NBA Finals, the Dubs’ “strength in numbers” has proven to be the team’s chief core competence.

Despite their MVP’s regressed play, they have still managed to miraculously fight off the once-surging Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games during the Western Conference Finals and look poised to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy for a second consecutive season over their polar-opposites: the iso-centric, two-man Cleveland Cavaliers.

For Curry, though, for what looked like a historic individual season, he is now in jeopardy of not bringing home the Finals MVP for the second time in two years, despite being on his way to collecting his second ring.

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To those who argue he should’ve won it last year over Andre Iguodala, I would be inclined to agree.  But the truth is, we cannot rewrite history.

As of today, Curry is scoring a whopping eight points per game less in the finals than he did during the regular season — which marks the single biggest scoring drop off by an incumbent MVP in modern NBA history (post-merger).

Not only is he scoring less, he’s also scoring less efficiently, as his TS% has also dipped by nearly 8 percent.

To make matters worse, his counterpart at the point of attack, Kyrie Irving, has been outplaying him from a statistical standpoint.

Will that matter, though, 20 years from now when we look back on Steph’s career and his stint of dominance?  Will his Finals MVP-less resume mar his “legacy”?

The truth is, this version of Curry, hurt or not, is still main focus of the opposing team’s defensive scheme.

A simple Steph cut, or curl off of a down screen, discombobulates the entire defense’s inherent principles — his gravity is what makes the likes of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green as impactful as they are.

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Sure, he doesn’t have the same ankle-breaking wiggle as he did back in November, but numbers aside, Stephen Curry should still be the Finals MVP, barring a miraculous comeback from the Cavs.

And as we head into Game 6, with a world of criticism hovering over the Golden Boy, Curry seems poised to deliver in the moment, stating, per AJ Neuharth-Keusch of USA Today:

"“I want to honestly play better and more consistent, but the situation is right now we’re one game away from winning a second championship, and I personally have 48 minutes to do what I need to do to help my team win. So right now it could kind of get lost in (the criticism). But at the end of the day if I’m sitting here tomorrow night with another trophy and celebrating with my teammates, we can talk all day.”"