With the Cleveland Cavaliers facing elimination, James produced two of the most marvelous Finals performances in National Basketball Association history.
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41 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, three blocks, four steals, one turnover in 43 minutes, 16-27 FG, 3-6 3PT, 6-8 FT. He received four of the 11 votes, and the victor, Golden State Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala, received the other seven. A Finals MVP award hasn’t been awarded to a player from a losing team since 1969, when Jerry West won.
Oh, and James also was invited Saturday to weigh in on whether he should be the MVP win or lose. “Yeah, I’m not going to do it”.
Curry’s wife, Ayesha, became the focus of some controversy when she tweeted of Game 6: “I’ve lost all respect sorry this is absolutely rigged for money”.
“As I mentioned the other night in my postgame press conference, if you start out every season and say, ‘We got one game at home to win the NBA Championship, ‘ I’ll take it every time”.
Of the sequence, Curry said Saturday, “I was going to the bench either way, so I might as well have kept walking to the locker room”. “Every move you make is going to the assessed, and I am going to be asked to assess your every move”. I’m not. I will not.
“Last time I answered a question about MVP, it didn’t go that well for me”, he said, finally let his guard down a bit and laughing, in reference to a scrutinized response about Curry’s award last month.
James was referencing his comments from May that created a windstorm when he suggested there was a difference between the most valuable player and the best player of the year. “If we’re in the Finals every year and playing for a championship, and that’s what I’ve got to deal with, I’m cool with it”.
Stephen Curry knows that the record-setting 73 wins, awards and memorable moments that highlighted Golden State’s special season will only be footnotes if the Warriors can’t quickly find their missing game. But we’ll try to be on the winning side of that. Anytime anything happens with Steph – be it emotionally, or him getting hurt in the Houston series, or him getting ejected on Thursday night – that motivates us to take it to another level.
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OAKLAND, Calif. – Stephen Curry believes he needs to play better than he ever has in Game 7 against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. The way that this series has gone, though, James has to be a serious candidate either way. “He’s everywhere”, teammate J.R. Smith said.
