Stephen Curry will lift another MVP trophy.
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Then Curry made five of his last six 3-point attempts late in the game, including the Warriors’ first 12 points in overtime.
DeRozan will play, though his thumb is obviously a major issue.
“I turned to Luke and said, ‘Luke is he shimmying?”
“I am surprised because, while I couldn’t imagine anybody not voting him first, there always seems to be somebody who has to stand out whether you’re talking about the Baseball Hall of Fame or whatever”.
“They’re a championship team and I thought we competed with them”.
Did they ever. Two weeks spraining his right knee, Curry hit three 3-pointers in overtime and lasted for 37 minutes.
Curry became the league’s first unanimous MVP because the Warriors became the first team to win 73 regular-season games and because they also have the Coach of the Year (Steve Kerr) and a roster loaded with other glorious talents.It might never get any better than this and Curry wanted to make sure he and his teammates absorbed and understood that.
“The way that I play has a lot of skill but is stuff that if you go to the YMCA or rec leagues or church leagues around the country, everybody wants to shoot, everybody wants to handle the ball, make creative passes and stuff like that”, Curry said after winning AP Male Athlete of the Year earlier this season. “Once he got going, he didn’t look exhausted….”
Curry finished 5 for 16 from 3-point range, saving his best for last.
Klay Thompson rallies himself once again from a slow start.
But what Green does on the court does have an impact, and although fairly obscured by Curry’s 40-point performance for the ages, the power forward was generally spectacular in a supporting role.
Curry got the best of Damian Lillard, who scored 36 points. CJ McCollum added 24 points.
This is the Golden State Warriors’ Finest Hour – and one of the greatest accumulations of joy and success any franchise has ever experienced at one time.
Kerr, a teammate of Michael Jordan’s, said yes, he has felt a similar kind of power coming from a player before this. “It’s a huge honour I’ll remember for the rest of my life”.
Portland coach Terry Stotts heard Green’s comments after the Warriors’ 132-125 overtime victory and said he doesn’t know if it will provide fuel for his team as it faces elimination. The win gave Golden State a commanding 3-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series. He missed a running one-hander that would have won it in the final moments of regulation, but Warriors fans had reason to hope he would be back in form for overtime. Lillard responded with a jump shot.
Curry is the 11th player to win the MVP award in consecutive seasons and only the third point guard to do it, joining Magic Johnson (1989, ’90) and Steve Nash (2005, ’06).
Curry checked into the game, skipping onto the court in the first quarter at a critical point in the game for the Warriors. It is the only shot he misses in overtime.
Green says he believes the Blazers are “done” heading into Game 5 Wednesday night.
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With Livingston out, Curry started the second half. The Warriors soon took their first lead of the game, thanks to Green.
