Stephen Curry again didn’t win the NBA Finals MVP as the Golden State Warriors trounced the outmatched Cleveland Cavaliers in a 4-0 sweep. That makes Curry 0-4 in Finals MVP tries, despite his team winning three of those championships. An extraordinary performance by Andre Iguodala at both ends (notably guarding LeBron James) merited the Finals MVP during the Warriors first run to the title, and newcomer Kevin Durant nabbed his second straight NBA Finals MVP in 2018, outdueling Curry in the stat sheet and at important moments.
Fact is you need more than one MVP-caliber performance to win a title — just ask the indefatigable LeBron James. And Curry or Durant would have been an easy choice for their work during this dominant Warriors performance. But in the series-sealing Game 3, the first in Cleveland, Curry didn’t quite measure up to Durant’s level — and that was the difference. Here’s how that game looked in the stat sheet. Curry shot 3-of-16 including 1-of-10 from 3-point territory. Durant scored 43 points on 15-of-23 from the field and 6-of-9 from behind the arc. For all those on Twitter saying Curry got robbed, Game 3 is the reason in a nutshell. And it’s hard to argue. Maybe best to just celebrate the championship.
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