"Isiah Thomas battled with Larry Bird, was losing to Bird, was beating Jordan" - Chris Broussard asserts that Finals MVPs are not as important as fans and media make them out to be
Fox Sports analyst Chris Broussard believes that Steph Curry potentially winning the Finals MVP award is not as important as everyone makes it out to be. He brought up examples of former champions who didn't win the elusive award every time, but it didn't tarnish their legacy, like Isiah Thomas and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Curry has a chance to win his fourth NBA title and his first Finals MVP award. He hasn't been the MVP in any of his championship runs, and many have held it against him. Several analysts have even proposed the preposterous idea that he was carried in his Finals runs and was never the best player in those series.
However, Broussard is not willing to attack Curry's legacy because of the lack of a Finals MVP award. On "First Things First," he said:
"I believe when you get to the Finals, you just wanna win. I don't care. ... If I'm Steph, and Klay Thompson lights it up and we win? I'm not tripping if he gets MVP. I got my fourth ring.
"Isiah Thomas battled with Larry Bird, was losing to Bird, was beating Jordan, finally gets over the hump and wins his first championship in 1989 and guess who's the Finals MVP? Joe Dumars. Not only another player but another guard. Do you think Isiah cared? No. It was a championship that they are seeking."
Does Finals MVP really matter?
"When you get to the Finals, you just want to win. If I'm Steph & Klay lights it up & we win, I'm not tripping if he gets the Finals MVP — I get my 4th ring. ... I'm not saying it's irrelevant. But you just want to win it all." — @Chris_Broussard https://t.co/712TolztlW
Thomas was the face of the Detroit Pistons in the 1980s. He won two championships with the team in 1989 and 1990 and wasn't the Finals MVP for either. Joe Dumars won in 1989, and no one brings that up as evidence against IT's greatness. Dumars was Thomas' running mate and backcourt partner who averaged 27.3 points and 6.0 assists per game on 57.6% shooting in the 1989 NBA Finals. Thomas, meanwhile, averaged 21.3 points and 7.3 assists on 48.5% shooting.
Similary, if Thompson were to catch fire and drop threes in the 2022 NBA Finals and win the Finals MVP, it wouldn't matter to Curry.
Broussard emphasized that all players want is to win a championship and the FMVP award is not even on their mind.
Chris Broussard says Steph Curry shouldn't care about the Finals MVP award, brings up Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as an example
Chris Broussard believes no player is thinking about winning the Finals MVP award and it holds very little value in their eyes.
A player and his team go through the ups and downs of an entire 82-game season and then endure three rounds of the grueling postseason to get to the NBA Finals. Once they reach that stage, all they are focused on is winning the four games and the coveted title. Hence, it is plausible to believe that the FMVP award is just an aftermath of the championship series, not the primary focus of a team or player.
On "First Things First," Broussard said:
"Kareem? Kareem has six championships, he's got two Finals MVPs. He won it way back with the Bucks and then his first two championships with the Lakers, Magic Johnson won it. A youngster. You think Kareem cared? No. So that's my point. I get it. It means something. I'm not saying it's irrelevant.
"I'm just saying, you go through a full season, you go through three rounds of the playoffs and you get to that championship, man, you just wanna win it all."
Steph = NBA MVP
Iggy = Finals MVP
1980 was only other time this happened when Kareem was MVP & Magic won Finals MVP. http://t.co/2aT5awYAeW
Curry and the Golden State Warriors host the Boston Celtics for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.