2018 NBA Finals: LeBron James, Warriors’ legacy and the 5 biggest takeaways

4. It doesn’t matter that Steph Curry didn’t win Finals MVP

Stephen Curry averaged 27.5 points, 6.8 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game in the Finals. He was the Warriors’ best player in three out of the four games, shot 41.5 percent from 3-point range and dropped a Finals-record 9 3-pointers in Game 2.

It still wasn’t enough to earn him the first Finals MVP Award of his career, and that’s okay.

For starters, Kevin Durant was probably the right choice as the recipient of the Bill Russell trophy. He averaged more points, assists, rebounds and blocks for the series, posted better shooting percentages and yeah, averages of 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.3 blocks per game on .526/.409/.963 shooting splits seem pretty deserving.

As Hoops Habit‘s own Simon Cherin-Gordon described, the misconception is that KD won Finals MVP thanks to his Herculean, 43-point Game 3 that came complete with the series dagger; the truth is, his floor in the Finals was much higher than Curry’s, especially after Steph’s Game 3 stinker.

None of this should come with an asterisk on Curry’s career, nor is it in any way a referendum on his performance in the Finals. It’s pretty clear by now the Chef is more than capable of cooking in the NBA’s brightest-lit kitchen.

Some thought Curry’s 37-point outburst in the decisive Game 4 might be enough to close the gap, but on such a well-balanced team like this, with four stars who can beat you on any given night, Finals MVP matters far less than keeping everyone happy and winning a third title in four years.

Curry is now a two-time MVP, a three-time NBA champ and a zero-time Finals MVP winner. I’m guessing if you asked him which mattered the least, you’d get a fairly predictable answer … especially since this probably wasn’t his last opportunity to add that last accolade to his trophy case.

Finals MVP means different things to different people. It’s traditionally been an indicator of who a championship team’s best player was, but the Warriors have changed that dynamic. Now it’s simply which superstar got hot during a four- or five-game series, which is why we need a Playoffs MVP and a Finals MVP award already.

In any case, it’s only a matter of time before that player is Steph Curry, so can we not panic over who the MVP of a four-game sweep was?