“Steph was not to be found… That’s a meltdown” - Skip Bayless says too much is missing from Steph Curry’s resume to put him in the top-10 all-time list, cites the 2016 NBA Finals
NBA analyst Skip Bayless has said that Steph Curry does not have enough credentials to secure himself in the top-10 all-time list.
Referencing the 2016 NBA Finals, Bayless outlined:
“Steph was not to be found… That’s a meltdown.”
"Steph is the greatest shooter ever and revolutionized the game from the 3-pt line, obviously. But none of that qualifies him for the all-time Top 10, there's too much missing from Steph's resume." — @RealSkipBayless https://t.co/nKAte13v2J
Steph Curry has secured himself as the greatest shooter of all-time, which Bayless agrees with. But the analyst outlines that his shooting ability is not enough to secure Curry into the top-10 greatest players of all-time.
Skip stated:
“We have seen two superstar meltdowns in the finals and I rank them 1 and 2. And the first one was your man LeBron James. It was his first go around with the Miami Heat versus the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 … Chosen one became frozen one.”
Bayless then continues to explain his second ranking:
“But now we’re talking about the second worst one that I ever witnessed … LeBron is down 3 games to 1, and Steph Curry comes up even smaller than he is at 6’3.”
Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors blew a 3-1 lead to LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers
During the 2016 NBA Finals, Steph Curry and his Golden State Warriors held a 3-1 lead against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. In a legendary comeback, LeBron and company secured the series victory.
Skip goes onto give us Curry’s stats during games 4, 5 and 6 of the series, saying:
“In those three games, he shot 37% from the floor which is just horrendously bad. A career 45% three-pointer shooter shot only 36% from three. He had 7 assists in those 3 games to 12 turnovers and was an overall -20 in plus/minus.”
Steph Curry’s fourth quarter performances were notably the worst of the entire series:
“In the 4th quarters of those three games he shot 30% from the floor and 25% from three … All three winnable games.”
Due to the reasons outlined, Skip believes that Curry is yet to prove himself great enough to break into the top-10 list of greats. Regardless, Steph is a three-time champion with two regular-season MVPs, and an eight-time All-Star with one All-Star Game MVP award.
After passing Ray Allen’s record of 2973 three-pointers, Steph solidified himself as the greatest deep-threat the game has ever seen. Now standing with 3117 threes made and counting as he approaches his sixth NBA Finals appearance, “The Chef” proves to keep cooking.
If Steph can win this year's championship it will tie him with LeBron James in finals wins, and as a result arguably inch him closer to the list of top greats. Skip Bayless makes a point to relay that he is not attempting to compare LeBron and Steph, or place Curry specifically above any player.
The analyst instead pointed out that he believes Steph’s resume needs to hold a few more accolades before he can contest himself into the top-10 greats of all time.