Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is inexplicably having to defend himself after winning the NBA Most Valuable Player award for the second straight season, despite securing the honor in a historic unanimous vote this year.
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‘We know what it takes to win in the play-offs.
But even at the expense of losing a little bit of their competitive edge, the Warriors were looking and sounding after their Game 5 close-out win Wednesday night like a team that would be perfectly OK with the longer amount of time to lick their wounds and re-energize their mental faculties.
For the second straight year, a panel of print media and broadcasters voted Curry the league MVP, this year he was the first-ever unanimous choice.
The Trail Blazers, who led for the first 29 minutes of the game, regained a 96-95 advantage on a driving hoop by McCollum with 10:45 remaining in the contest.
The Warriors will play the Kiwi Steven Adams’ Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs for the right to go the NBA Finals.
The Blazers looked great over the first two quarters, actually outscoring the Warriors and leading at half time.
They lost 7ft centre Andrew Bogut for the second half because of a right leg injury.
“Anytime you win a series, you’re just relieved and then you move on and at that point you have a brand-new set of challenges”, said Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
‘Then the way Steph finished the game, that step-back shot to put it to a five-point lead was probably a shot only he can make.
“For him to be that first player to get this unanimously”, McGrady said, “I think it just tells you how watered down our league it. Think about when MJ played, Shaq … those guys really played against some top-notch competition”. I know it inspires a lot of the next generation, a lot of people who love the game of basketball to value the skill of it, value the fact that you can work every single day to get better.
When Lionel Messi weaves his way through an opposing defense like a knife through hot butter, we say it’s like something out of Federation Internationale de Football Association.
Throughout the five-game series, both teams combined for a total of 135 made three-point field goals, the most in a five-game series. The Blazers became the only team to defeat the Warriors twice this season. “I never thought that would happen in my career”, Curry said in his acceptance speech as quoted by ESPN.
He was also the driving force defensively on Lillard, who was harassed into 7-for-24 shooting on a 28-point night. Mo Speights had a good second half. He went to his signature stepback 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds left in the third to give the Warriors a 93-91 lead.
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Former NBA player Tracy McGrady said the league is “watered down”, in response to Curry being named the MVP. After saving an errant Leandro Barbosa back pass from going out of bounds, Curry got the ball back from Bogut in the corner on the improbable give-and-go and hit the long-distance shot.
