They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Well if that is the case, then the Golden State Warriors are head over heels for Stephen Curry at the moment. The Warriors were up 2-1 after three games against the Portland Trailblazers in their Western Conference semi-finals series. However the team looked worse for wear through the first two games before finally succumbing to the Blazers in Game 3. Like Superman exiting a phone booth though, the first unanimous MVP in league history came off the bench in Game 4. What happened was a continuation of a dream season for the Golden State guard which may cement his 2015-16 campaign as one of the greatest of all-time. They weren’t entirely lost without their humble superstar, but his absence was more notable in the first three games of this series than it ever had been before. With the Chef’s return though, his importance has been magnified and his team have once again asserted themselves as the NBA’s elite.
There was little doubt that Stephen Curry would be taking home his second consecutive MVP trophy this spring. The win puts him alongside Magic Johnson and Steve Nash as the only point guards ever to repeat as winner of the award. However, unlike those two as well as some others who produced ungodly statistical years, Curry became a transcendent figure in his unanimous selection. LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal came within one vote of doing so, and the greatest ever, Michael Jordan, fell four votes shy in his best effort. In fact, Curry joins the NFL’s Tom Brady and NHL’s Wayne Gretzky as the only players in American sports with a lone MVP system (baseball’s AL/NL versions have seen 11 such winners) to amass all the support of the sportswriters.
But if you harken back to the first three games of this series, you could tell that the Warriors had an MVP sized hole in their team. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green helped them get off to good starts and effective finishes, but the supporting cast left Dub Nation wanting. Portland ran every designed play and punishing defensive set they had at the duo and it eventually broke them in Game 3. A near triple double from Green and 72 combined points never looked more taxing. With San Antonio faltering over in the other semi-final, it seemed as if Steve Kerr’s decision to keep his version of Clark Kent in a suit was going to keep the league from their dream Western Conference Final.
But, when the announcement came down that Curry was to play in Game 4, off the bench with a minutes cap, the groans of disillusionment from the Game 3 loss eroded. Their playmaker was to make a valiant re-entry and stake his claim that his unanimous selection as MVP was not only warranted, but destined. His post-game comments showed the humble side of his nature and nothing less would be expected from Stephen Curry and his contingent. But his play over 37 spellbinding minutes spoke greater volumes than any lengthy press conference or interview ever could.
Damian Lillard, Portland’s dagger wielder from Game 3 and pretty much all season, found himself in a duel that not many a man have won over the past two plus seasons. He followed up his 40 point effort in a win with 36 more, and throughout the first half looked the better man. His Blazers were up 10 at the break and he had frustrated starting point guard Shaun Livingston to the point of ejection late in the second period. If only he knew what Stephen Curry had planned for him in the second half and beyond.
Golden State began to chip away at Portland’s advantage with Curry getting extended run. Lillard had to extend his range with the constant switching from the Warriors perimeter force, and he became visibly rattled on defense because of it. Curry pounced on that vulnerability like a rattlesnake on a jackrabbit. The Warriors fed off their leader and forced a game that was incredibly in Portland’s favor into overtime. That is where Curry put himself in the pantheon of playoff maestros.
Curry’s overtime may go down in the annals of NBA playoff history with Jordan’s flu game, Willis Reed’s hobbled start, and Allen Iverson’s Finals debut as one of the best games by a guy not at 100%. Three after three rained from his finger tips and every pass seemed to be just millimeters out of the reach of Portland’s defenders. He set an NBA record with 17 points in the extra frame, and to be honest it seemed as if he did so rather effortlessly. After being so banged up from the Houston series that he could not even make a cameo over the series’ first three games, he put on this type of show. It was the stuff of legend. It was the stuff of a unanimous MVP.
Golden State look to finish off Portland this evening. They are going to get either a rolling Oklahoma City Thunder team next, or a San Antonio one who have pushed themselves to the extreme to upend OKC. Whomever makes it through is in for a battle with a basketball god. I don’t use theological terms too often, but with the history that Stephen Curry has been making on a nightly basis, myself, like the MVP voters, have plenty of visual evidence to back up such lofty praise.