“Steph Curry has been a disrupter, breaking up happy homes” - Former NBA champion says Steph Curry will replace Magic Johnson on the NBA Mount Rushmore with a finals MVP
NBA and Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry is on the verge of taking his team to the NBA Finals for the sixth time. The Warriors are on the brink of sweeping the Dallas Mavericks.
On ESPN's morning show Get Up, former NBA champion Kendrick Perkins waxed lyrical about what another championship might do to Curry's legacy. He believes that Curry will put the debate to bed as to who the greatest point guard of all time is. Perkins said:
"If he goes on to win a fourth NBA title with a Finals MVP, forget the top-10 list, forget the greatest point guard of all time, he's going to be on the NBA Mt. Rushmore. Think about this, his three championships, who were they won against? LeBron James, and Steph Curry has been a disrupter, breaking up happy homes."
Perkins was referring to the time when Curry and co. came back from a 3-1 deficit against the Kevin Durant-led Oklahoma City Thunder. That was what essentially drove Durant to the Warriors by leaving Russell Westbrook and OKC.
Steph Curry's solid regular season
Steph Curry had a relatively strong season. The two-time MVP led the way for the Golden State Warriors in their pursuit of yet another championship.
He finished the regular season averaging 25.5 points, 6.3 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game. He shot 43.7% from the field and 38.0% from beyond the arc. He also shot 92.3% from the free-throw line and recorded 12 double-doubles, along with two triple-doubles. Curry's defense has also improved tremendously.
However, while shooting 38.0% from the perimeter might seem like a solid percentage, it's a significant drop-off for Curry's standards. He has shot 42.8% from three for his career.
This could be partly explained by his absurd shooting volume. The 33-year-old attempted a whopping 11.7 shots per game from long range. However, in the 2018-19 regular season, he took 11.7 threes per game and made them at a 43.7% clip. Last year, he took an astounding 12.7 per game and converted them at a rate of 42.1%.
Stephen Curry in the 2022 Western Conference Finals:
28.0 PTS
8.3 REB
6.7 AST
49.1% FG
48.3% 3PT
3-0 record
The greatest player in the world.
He has had to carry much of the scoring burden as Klay Thompson was still ramping up after a long injury absence. While Thompson had spurts of brilliance, he hadn't found much consistency during the regular season. Curry also did not have his partner in crime, Draymond Green, for a lengthy spell. The Warriors forward suffered a back injury in early January, returning only on March 14.
Had Curry led his team to the summit of the Western Conference, he might have had a case for the MVP award. His injury towards the end of the regular season also didn't help.
Either way, the two-time MVP will be focused on winning his fourth championship by beating the Dallas Mavericks and progressing to the NBA Finals.