“I thought he was well on his way to a 50-point ball game” - Shannon Sharpe believes Steph Curry played well vs the Boston Celtics despite the loss, says there’s nothing else he could have done
Steph Curry has received the blame for the Golden State Warriors' collapse in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. But TV personality Shannon Sharpe believes there's nothing else Curry could have done.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Warriors had a 12-point lead over the Boston Celtics. But the Celtics outscored Golden State 40-16 in the fourth quarter to win 120-108.
Curry's 21-point first quarter set the Warriors off to a great start. Unfortunately for Golden State, he got cold for the remainder of the game and was not much help.
Sharpe said Curry needed help for the Warriors to win the game. On "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," Sharpe gave Curry an A-minus grade:
"I gave him an A-minus, because I thought he played really, really well. He just needed someone to go along with him. He needed Jordan Poole, and that's normally what happens. He normally gets Jordan Poole to go along with him.
"Last night, he needed someone else, because as hot as he was in the first quarter, they only had 32 points. He had 21 of them. Normally, a situation like that maybe somebody else gets another eight, nine, 10. That's a 40, 42, 44-point quarter.
"I know he didn't end the way ... I thought he was well on his way to a 50-point ball game, considering he had 21 in the first quarter. They kind of probably left him out a little bit too long, and he lost a little bit of rhythm, because I think he missed the first six minutes of the second quarter.
"There's nothing he could have done. If Boston's gonna shoot like they shot in the fourth quarter, he better have a 30-point quarter in his bag to offset what Boston did to them in that fourth quarter."
.@ShannonSharpe on Steph Curry's performance in Game 1 of NBA Finals:
"I gave him an A- because he played really well, he just needed someone to go along with him. There's nothing else he could've done." https://t.co/FR064Gg18s
On the show, Skip Bayless criticized Curry for his role in the loss. His argument centered around Curry not performing during big moments.
Steph Curry says the Golden State Warriors will have to respond on Sunday
The loss in Game 1 was a shock, considering the Warriors controlled the first three quarters. They were the favorites to win but failed to uphold their perfect home record in the postseason.
Curry acknowledged going behind 1-0 in the series is not an ideal situation. However, he believes in the group and how they deal with adversity, saying:
"It's not ideal, but I believe in who we are, how we deal with adversity, how we respond all year, how we respond in the playoffs after a loss. Learned a lot from that fourth quarter. Obviously, they made a lot of shots.
"They played well. We know that they're a good team. So, we got to respond on Sunday."
“It’s not ideal but believe in who we are and how we deal with adversity… We got to respond on Sunday.”
– Steph Curry https://t.co/ZzHsdo5m3V
Game 2 will take place at the Chase Center in San Francisco before the series moves to Boston for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Friday.
Golden State has not lost two consecutive games this postseason and will be looking to continue that trend.
It will be no easy task considering Boston's road record in the postseason. However, a win is imperative if the Warriors hope to stay in the series.