ESPN analyst stresses importance of 2022 Finals for Steph Curry’s legacy
As the Golden State Warriors prepare to take on the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals, there are a lot of questions surrounding the legacy of superstar guard Steph Curry.
While Curry is undoubtedly the best shooter to ever step on an NBA court, there are questions about whether he can really lead his team to a title.
For example, in the 2015 Finals, Curry led Golden State to a 4-2 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, but Andre Iguodala took home MVP honors. Then, Kevin Durant joined the team and he won Finals MVP in both the 2017 and 2018 title runs.
On top of that, there is the ugly blown lead in the 2016 Finals when Golden State became the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 lead in the Finals. There is also the 2019 Finals loss to the Toronto Raptors where Durant only played in one game.
Therefore, for Curry’s legacy, this 2022 Finals against a historic team like the Celtics, is important for him. ESPN’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo laid it out as so:
This is a very important series from that standpoint. The stats do not indicate Game 7 against Cleveland, the year the Cavs beat them, where he was awful. Shooting 3s and turning the ball over and was outplayed by Kyrie Irving, somehow that’s not in there where he was not good in a big game and could not get his team home up 3-1 in that series with two home games. Let’s not forget that before we sit there and put Curry on this high class…Here’s the thing about Curry. He’s won three titles. The first title that he won, if you care about MVPs in the NBA Finals, he wasn’t. They beat Cleveland in six games. Cavs had no Kyrie, no Kevin Love, and if you want to go look at the Cavalier lineup in Game 6, Stephen A. (Smith) and I could have started. I mean, (Matthew) Dellavedova, I mean, that was as bad as you’re ever going to see. That was a horrendous team that LeBron (James) took to a Game 6. The other two Finals, Durant was the better player, alright? So to me, and then he lost the horrendous loss when the Cavs beat them. So to me, from that standpoint, this is a very significant series here against the Celtics.
Curry has already built a Hall of Fame resume, but in order to really cement his legacy, it is important that he leads the Warriors to a Finals win without the help of Durant and take home the Finals MVP award.
Game 1 from the Chase Center is set for 6 p.m. PDT on Thursday.
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Warriors vs. Celtics: Watch all the highlights from the 2021-22 regular-season matchups before the NBA Finals
