One of the big criticisms of Stephen Wardell Curry’s career has been that he hasn’t had any defining moments in the NBA Finals. In 2016, his team blew a 3-1 lead, in a series where he averaged 23 5 and 4 on 40/40/93 shooting splits – all noticeable decline from his regular season numbers – especially with his shooting percentages.
In 2017 and 2018, he lost the Finals MVP race to Kevin Durant. He played well, but was outshone for Durant. And this year, in 2019, Curry may have averaged 30 5 and 6 – which is great – but his shooting splits were were 40/34/95, poor for Steph’s standards. This is includes a 6/17 (3/11 3PT) performance, scoring only 21 points and missing the go ahead bucket at the last second to win and send it game 7.
Everyone is getting on Steph for this. Yet, did he really have to deliver? Or is it simply just good enough that he wins? Because all that really matters is winning. Look at Kobe Bryant in his last 2 Finals wins. He didn’t have any defining moment. He shot 6/24 in Game 7 of the 2010 Finals and missed many shots that people thought would be his defining shots. Yet no one bothers him for it. In the future, people will look at Steph Curry and look at how he averaged over 30 and 6 in these Finals, including a 47-pt game. They’ll look at how his teammates, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson missed time. How the bench production was lackluster. And then they’ll rewrite the narrative.
Do defining moments matter? Well, one could say they do matter. Look at LeBron’s 3-1 comeback against the Warriors. That’s a defining moment for him, and it literally saved his career (and his GOAT argument). Before that, he was 2-4, had lost 2 straight Finals, and had been known as a choker that is great in the regular season but can’t really be trusted on the biggest stage – just like Steph is now. But that defining moment helped him.
Do defining moments matter? The answer is yes. Because they can elevate a player, and they can elevate a player.
Imagine if Kobe went off at the end of game 7 of the Celtics Finals in 2010. Imagine if he scored 2 game sealing buckets. And imagine if he averaged a 30 pt triple double in the 2009 Finals in addition. If Kobe did that, he’d be top 5 all time, no question. But because we don’t even remember that Finals game against the Magic, that gives us one less association with Kobe’s rings than we should have. (It doesn’t help that Shaq was the more dominant player in his earlier titles.)
Kobe Bryant would have have been in most peoples’ top 5. But instead, the de facto ranking has him around 8-12.
Look at Michael Jordan. In the 91 Finals, he had the hand switch layup. In the 92 Finals against the Blazers, he had 6-straight 3PT shots and had 35 points at the end of the first half of game 1, breaking records in the process.
Jordan averaged 40 pts in the Finals against the Suns (albeit against some horrible perimeter defense). Then he took 3 years off after getting suspended to play baseball, and came back for another threepeat, including his signature pushoff in game 6 of the 1998 Finals against the Utah Stars.
Michael Jordan had some of the defining plays of the sport itself during this run. He plays that symbolized clutch shots, that symbolizes GOAT status. So his legacy is etched in stone.
Having defining moments in the Finals help elevate or subtract from your legacy.
And it’s hurting Steph Curry’s legacy now. As ridiculous as it seems now, back in the 2016 season, people were bringing up Jordan comparisons to Curry. Yes, they were. And at the time, they were justified. He just had the most electric regular season many of us had seen. He transformed the game, and wowed us in ways very few players had (the only seasons that compare would probably be Shaq’s 2000 season, one of Kobe’s seasons, one of LeBron’s seasons, and one of Jordan’s seasons). It was a peak of the ages, and imagine what it would have done for his career if he had the brought the title home that year in dominant fashion. He would have already been pushed as a top 10 player then. But he lost. By blowing a 3-1 lead. And won two titles after adding a league MVP in his prime. And then lost another Finals when that MVP got injured.
It may be an unfair narrative, but it’s the narrative. That’s how it works in this league. Defining moments are defining. Curry’s defining moments in the Finals? Not playing as well as he does in the regular season. Double-clutching and hesitating on his threes. Not moving with the same speed and aggressiveness. Only winning when either the competition was hurt, or when he has KD next to him. Again, it’s not the most accurate narrative, but that’s what he has to live with.
