Transcription
Alright man, peace. You know, brothers, in 2019, everyone is a reporter, everyone is a journalist, including myself. And one of the core aspects of journalism is the creation of narrative. And the distinction between a good journalist or chronicler, as opposed to a bad one, is how substantive is the narrative that you create. Is the narrative or the the storyline that you concoct based in facts and empirical data, or is it agenda-driven?
And what we'll find, especially pertaining to certain athletes, is what the mainstream media loves to do is build up that athlete or that quote-unquote idol and then tear them down. In the case of Steph Curry, the overwhelming narrative is that he is not a good playoff performer, while his numbers do not tell that story.
And I've always said this about Steph Curry. I believe that the shift that occurred with Steph Curry when it comes to his playoff performances and his clutch performances was the 2016 NBA Finals. Before that, he was one of the most clutch players, arguably, in the modern history of the NBA, even in the playoffs. From 2013, when the Warriors first made the playoffs, I believe in the first round, they squared off against the Denver Nuggets. They won that series when they were not supposed to win that series. They'd only won something like 47 games that year. The Nuggets had won 57 games. I believe that was George Karl's last season. The Warriors defeated the Nuggets.
The next round, they faced the San Antonio Spurs, and Steph Curry had a monster game. I can't remember if it was Game 1 or Game 2 in San Antonio, and they lost that game in overtime and eventually lost the series, I believe, in six games. But they gave the San Antonio Spurs one of the toughest runs of any team in the 2013 playoffs, up until they eventually lost it a Miami Heat. And as we all know, the Spurs should have defeated that Heat in the 2013 finals had it not been for Ray Allen.
In 2014, the Warriors lose, I believe, to the LA Clippers in seven games in the first round. In 2015, the Warriors win 67 games. In the first round, they square off against a New Orleans Pelicans. They sweep that series. Steph Curry is dominant. There was a game in New Orleans where they were trailing big, and Steph Curry hits a clutch three-point shot to send it into overtime, and then of course, they win the game in overtime. And the next, they go down two games to one against the Memphis Grizzlies. In Game 4 in Memphis, Steph Curry dominates, even hits a three-quarter court shot to tie that series up, a series that they eventually win, I believe, in six games. And the third round, they square off against the Houston Rockets, and that series would have been a sweep had it not been for Steph Curry's injury in Game 4 in Houston.
And from that point, when Steph Curry landed on his head and, damn, looked like he broke his neck, from the moment that he came back from that injury, he was never the same in the NBA Playoffs, or at least not until Game 5 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. His equilibrium was off in the first two games of that series, and it did not start to really come back until Game 4 and Game 5. And as we know about Steph Curry, he's a rhythm player. And when you knock him off his rhythm, he's totally discombobulated because he's not going to defeat you with his physicality. He's going to defeat you with with his nonpareil skillset. When you knock him off kilter, when you can get more physical with him, it is going to affect him.
But whenever you whenever you gauge Steph Curry, it has to be properly evaluated. If you're going to gauge him against his regular-season performances, of course, it's not going to be quite up to snuff because the NBA allows more more open play in the regular season. But it's not like he goes from 28 points a game in the regular season to 17 points a game in the playoffs. He still scores somewhere around 25, 26 points a game, and he should have won the NBA Finals MVP award for the 2015 finals.
And 2016, we all know what happens. In 2016, he had arguably the greatest individual regular season of any player in recent memory. I would say arguably in the last 25 years or so. He had the best regular season of any player, arguably. I mean, it's right there with Jordan's '96 season when the Bulls won 72 games, right there with Shaq's 2000 season, right there with LeBron's 2013 season, Steph Curry's 2016 season. And in the first game against the Rockets, he hurts his foot, I believe. And then Game 3 in Houston, he damn near tears his MCL. And when he comes back against Portland, he has this magnificent game and a clutch moment when they needed it. Thereafter, they go down three games to one against the Oklahoma City Thunder after defeating the Portland Trail Blazers. And he was clutch in Game 5 in Golden State, and he was clutch in Game 7 in Golden State when they needed him.
But once again, the turning point, in my view, was that 2016 Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Game 3, when Golden State was up two games to nothing. I'll never forget the look, the glazed look in Steph Curry's eyes in Game 3 when neither he nor his team showed up to compete at all. Game 4, they competed. Steph Curry played relatively well. I believe he scored over 30 points. But Draymond Donkey Green tried to first try to kick LeBron James, then did a karate chop right to LeBron James's nuts, and the rest was history, as the vice-grip started to tighten around the necks of the Golden State Warriors. Steph Curry did not respond. And some people say he was injured, some people say he just choked. Who knows? But either way, the rest was history. They lose the finals, they sign KD in the offseason, and after that, in almost every clutch moment, they go to KD and not Steph. So Steph never gets the opportunity to get back into a clutch rhythm like he was prior to that. And that's why I believe that Steph Curry would not mind if KD were to leave the team and they can replace him with a player who's still good, very competitive, but not as great as Kevin Durant, so that Steph can go back to being the quote-unquote Alpha.
But people forget in the 2017 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, Steph Curry almost averaged a 27-point triple-double. He dominated Kyrie Irving. Nobody talks about that. In 2018, Steph Curry was trending towards winning the NBA Finals MVP. So he had that horrific Game 3 in Cleveland, which I did a video about that after the game. He was crying on the shoulders of Andre Iguodala because he knew what that meant. Well, he did not show up for Game 3. And on top of that, Kevin Durant was dominant. He knew that that his potential NBA Finals MVP award was in peril.
And that brings us to this season, where right now, the Golden State Warriors, I won't say that they're on the brink, but they're tied two games to two against the Houston Rockets, their main rival. And the Rockets are one of the more physical teams in recent NBA memory, for me at least, for this era. They're very physical, and they have been able to discombobulate Steph Curry. So of course, they're gonna talk about it. Nobody chimed in. In other words, he looked, I've seen many players that had dislocated fingers and things of that nature. You have to play through it, especially when it's not on your shooting hand. I get it, the left hand is the guide hand, but still, if we consider Steph Curry the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA, for many of you brothers who go back that far or who have classic sports or what have you, and you've seen this legendary playoff matchup between the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons in the 1984 playoffs, Bernard King, I believe he had injured fingers on both hands, and he still was giving the Pistons 35, 40 points every game in that five-game series. So if Steph Curry is his greatest shooter as everyone claims that he is, and we know that he's a great shooter, he has to be able to transcend.
Yeah, absolutely. I always bang up this time of year, and it immediately affects his performance. The Steph Curry has consistently been, when it comes to making shots and decision-making with the ball, let's be honest, in the important playoff games, he's consistently been in crunch time a worse version of himself. Well, I'll say this, Steph Curry has consistently made bad decisions with the basketball for his entire career. He likes a hot dog, we all know that. He also flies under the radar because he's a two-time world champion in four seasons, and a bigger part of his team really is hard and responsible for more of the offense. But Steph is a huge problem that way. Look, there's presence is the reason that KD is opening all the time, right? Ding, right? They don't want them counting by please with Steph and Klay. It's also the reason why Klay Thompson is open all the time. So Klay Thompson might want to think about that before he decides to start running off at the mouth about how he's not getting enough opportunities to shoot the basketball. They'd rather count by twos with KD and still lose, probably because KD is so great. But just your presence alone, and it's not the same thing as what he does in the regular season where his presence alters the game and his shot-making ability does too.
Tiffany, I'm reminded of Game 6, the 73-win season, when LeBron blocked them, you know, mid-submit the rim block, and hit him with the inspected XT bonet from bring the ruckus. Remember, scream on you like your dad, scream God, like he was his dad. And Steph, safety steps, kind of like hung his head and walked off. Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh. And in Game 7, what happened? Game 7, four minutes and 22 seconds to go. The greatest half-court offense of all time. Steph, the conductor, zero points. There it is. LeBron blocked them, what screams on? Come on, son. Yellow brown was feeling himself so much in that moment, man up. [ __ ] you know damn well LeBron would never have done that [ __ ] against the late-2000s Boston Celtics, so the, you know, the Pistons of the mid-2000s, so on and so forth. He wouldn't know his place. Well, that should be that he had no respect for the Golden State Warriors, who were a purely for nest team. They are one tough Garnett squad that being Draymond, if you want to include Bogut, you could kind of sort of include him as well. But for the most part, the Warriors, they had no toughness on that squad whatsoever. And when LeBron started to smell blood, that's why I started talk like that because he sensed that they were folding under the pressure. He was correct. Four minutes 22 seconds. The next game at home, fate of the universe on the line, a single point. Steph, behind-the-back pass is out of bounds to Klay. Steph missing shots, not wanting to take shots, not just missing shots, throwing up some of the worst bricks I've ever seen in my life. Steph Curry threw up some of the worst bricks that I've ever seen, like West Bricky and Russell Westbrook Ian type bricks he was throwing up. They ran Kyrie right at Steph. They wanted Steph on defense. Steph is a great player, loved watching the plays. Even a, this is not to deny what he is, but let's not deny what he is. He's a guy with a lesser player in the biggest moments than he normally is. That's one of the reasons the Rockets are vulnerable. They lost that 73-win season in the finals to Cleveland, and by the way, nearly lost to Houston last. Nearly means nothing in a playoff. Max Gilman, you either do it or you don't do it. Nobody is completely invincible. Nobody. I'm not worried about Steph Curry. The reason I'm not worried about Steph Curry is because I've seen him miss open shots. You know, obviously, if you want to have a reason that might be an even more reason to worry about Steph Curry, I think that a better claim would be, I'm not worried about Steph great because he's missing tightly contested shots. So we expect Golden State to to work harder on getting him open things that I nature. When you're missing wide open shots, that tells me, I mean, if you want to follow the narrative that Curry is choking, that's what that would tell someone who's going to follow or abide by the narrative. Now, I know what Steve Nick Smith is trying to say. He's saying, I don't expect Steph Curry to keep missing wide-open shots. But if he's the choker that many people claim he is, who knows? That might continue. Once again, Steph is a rhythm player. He's someone who you can get to doubt himself if his rhythm starts to go off kilter.
Well, look, Steph gets very handsy with a defense. We all know that. Wrong situations where is Harlan, oh, it's Chris Paul. They make sure that they make they make sure to ensure that he ends up guarding them at some point because they know they can get him in foul trouble. And that's what they've been doing. That's a reason to be concerned. But I'm not worried about Steph Curry the offensive player. I'm not worried about Steph Curry who hasn't scored better than 24 points in the last seven games. One thing Steve Kurt needs to do is he needs to stop allowing Steph Curry to go one-on-one against these guys. One of the reasons why Steph Curry is ending up in foul trouble is because you cannot guard Chris Paul or James Harden one-on-one. And ain't no that's what's so laughable to me. Everyone loves to talk about how bad Steph Curry's defense is. Steph Curry is consistently in the top half of the league when it comes to defense by guards in the NBA, consistently. He's never in the bottom half, nowhere near the bottom, because he gives effort on defense. So no, he's not a bad defensive player. It's just that they want Steph Curry to to have to guard James Harden or a Chris Paul because you'd rather have Steph Curry guarding them than a Klay Thompson who's six-foot-seven and long. But who in the NBA can guard James Harden or or Chris Paul one-on-one? No one. So what Steve Kurt needs to do is take a page out of Houston's book and allow allow Chris Paul or James Harden island against Steph Curry.
He has this infatuation with dunking, like he has this utter infatuation with being a dunker, and he's not a dunker. That's not something that you try to do in Game 3 or Game 4 of the NBA Playoffs in the semi-finals when you know that you're not someone who's always going to be able to get above the rim, and he's embarrassed himself numerous times, numerous times over the last few seasons. Steph Curry has got the pass quite James Harden. But I will tell you this, Steph Curry has not a guy that you want to get locked in and focused with that shooting ability. You don't want that because it could be lights out for you. You could turn around and drop 40. Then I definitely think he has the potential to do that. You know, they're waiting for that. I've been waiting for that a long time. When I was on Sports Nation during that 73-win season, I was on TV, Stephen A., saying every day, this is Steph's world. Sorry LeBron, sorry everyone else. I know it wouldn't be this case in any other era. I know it's not fair, but the way the game is played today, Steph should be the guy in Space Jam, not LeBron. It, I agree with that. I said that at the time. I said that Steph Curry should be the person in Space Jam or Space Jam 2, not LeBron James. LeBron James is not someone that you look at and say, you know, children are going to be able to to vibe with. LeBron James, you know, LeBron James has that Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal physical presence about him. He's not someone who you consider to be a quote-unquote common man or regular person. Now, Michael Jordan, of course, was one of the most dominant natural athletes ever, but he looked like a regular person. He was not someone who had huge shoulders and biceps, so on and so forth. So we'll see how successful this Space Jam redo was going to be. Yay. And we'd see them do this horse season. He was the MVP, but when it mattered most, he went away. He didn't have any of those monster games. In fact, tell you the truth, I can't recall one monster game when I thought it really, really mattered in this Warriors dynasty from Steph.
Well, you know what that means, Max. Gentlemen, that means that that your antidepressants, oh, your prescription meds are destroying your memory because I can think of numerous huge games that Steph Curry has had when they needed it. How about Game 4 in Cleveland when he played extremely well in 2015? How about Game 5 in Golden State in 2015 where he dominated the Cleveland Cavaliers when he shook up Della Dellavedova, whatever his name is? How about in 2016, as I already mentioned, I believe it was Game 4 against the Portland Trail Blazers when he came in and dominated in overtime and in the fourth quarter, or Games 5, 6, and 7 against the OKC Thunder in 2016 when he was excellent. I won't say he was dominant, but he was excellent in those three games to end the series. How about in 2017 throughout the entire playoffs, he was great. So, I mean, people have narratives that are based in agendas, and that's why it's very difficult for them to say things that actually have substance.
There, this guy goes again, trying to attribute all of Steph Curry's success to the other players. Well, we have to make this make sense. Well, Max, come in, I would have to ask you this question. In the history of the NBA, what little man can you name that met up against a great bigger man or a great big man and was able to dominate in that fashion? Of course, we have the great Isaiah Thomas, who had that one game where he scored something like 42 or 43 points against the LA Lake in the '88 finals, and he had 25 points in the third quarter, I believe it was, and the Pistons still lost that game and lost the series because he went down with that horrible ankle injury, which damn near was a broken ankle. That's pretty much it. Look at all the other great little men who've made an appearance in the NBA Finals, whether it was John Stockton or Kevin Johnson or what had, none of them ever had this gargantuan impact that you're expecting from Steph Curry. As a matter of fact, when we look at Steph Curry's productivity, and now we evaluate all compared and contrasted to the other great little men in the history of the NBA, he far out surpasses them.
Honest about this. Now, part of it may be slightly built, you pointed slightly Phillip, so it takes a toll. And by now, there are things physically wrong with him. Usually it by this time in the playoffs. Well, there are things that are physically wrong with most of these players by the playoffs, but yes, Steph Curry does tend to be a little bit more injury-prone, a little bit more fragile of body. For whatever reason, he's always missed dunks. Steph Curry's missing dunks his entire career. That missed dunk did not cost him the game. I will say the missed dunk cost him the chance to potentially have a chance to tie the game. That's it. You know what have you, you know, they go timeout, and then ultimately they come back, they go away from him, and Steph Curry and Klay Thompson is shooting, and they're both struggling. I'm saying KD is much stronger than he looks. This man opened, he will bury you a lot. And I think it's one of those situations, as long as he is KD, Steph Curry will take advantage of it. Nor did he test. He's done in the first three games of this. Real quick question, Stephen A. This is what I feel about the Warriors. I'm gonna leave Draymond. Forget about what you feel. What do you know? And if we talk about the big three scores, they all give me the feeling. It doesn't mean always has to be this way, but so far, they're frontrunner. They get a lot of heart when they're off, when they're crew deep, when they can't lose, then they're real, then everyone's a real, real off-watch kind of player, right? With, well, wait a minute, Max. Come on, we have to remember one thing. The Golden State Warriors are a jump-shooting team. That's what they are. So they're never going to be consistent because jump shooting comes and goes. What they are is the greatest jump-shooting team in the history of the NBA. That's why they've won championships. That's why prior to them winning championships, you asked certain NBA pundits like Charles Barkley, who stated jump-shooting teams don't win championships. He would know that because the best team that he was ever on, the 1993 Phoenix Suns, were a jump-shooting team, and they never won the championship. So what they're doing is, is is different. They're setting new standards. And as opposed to, you know, as opposed to an appropriate evaluation based on the fact that they're setting new standards, we're trying to compare them to two other teams that really don't exist because what they've done has never been done before them. There's never been a jump-shooting team that won a championship like the Golden State Warriors have done repeatedly. Great point, Steve Naismith. He's being measured against himself. The important explosions or what have you. But I think, and I think it's safe to say, nobody in their right mind will want to leave these brothers open because more often than not, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry are going to hit open shots. I think that's number one. Number two, I think you've got to pay attention to the fact that, you know what, their bench is thinner. They didn't like Brian Windows wrote in this column today. Look, they didn't, they didn't care of stuff in free agency the way it was anticipated. A little bit of money that they had to spend, the Nick Young to the world, and of a cause of the world, and others, you didn't spend money and making sure to retool your bedroom. The biggest loss was JaVale McGee, and nobody really thought that at the time because they said, well, we're replacing him with DeMarcus Cousins. But the loss of JaVale McGee was huge because JaVale McGee was an impact player for the Lakers this season, this past season, and he's still been on the Warriors. He would have made a difference thus far in this series, believe it or not, as dumb as his ass is. So now you have a situation where you've got the big three, you got just started five averaging over 35 minutes, and you've got your three, you got three guys in KD, Draymond Green, and in Klay averaging over 40 minutes again. So when you got that going on, that's problematic for you.
Yeah, yeah. But KD, Draymond, Iguodala covering a lot of sense, certainly in this series. Sit. Well, it depends on what your definition of the word sin is. If by sin, you mean the cavalier disregard that Bob Myers and Steve Kerr probably had for a JaVale McGee or for some big man help or bench help, then yes, I agree that that's relatively. Well, that all depends on what your definition of the term sin is in this context. If I sin, you mean the cavalier disregard that Bob Myers and Steve Kerr probably had for fortifying their at their bench or their big man help, so on and so forth, then yeah, they've been relatively sinful. But anyway, we'll see what happens with the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets. This is going to be a kind of clinic last three games because the Golden State Warriors do not want to release their their stranglehold on their domination of the NBA, and the Houston Rockets are tired of waiting. But anyway, peace.