After 6 closely fought games the Golden State Warriors came out victorious winning the 2022 NBA Championship. The main reason for this, the catalyst for their whole run, newly appointed Finals MVP(FMVP) Steph Curry. While it should be his second FMVP, (Iggy winning in 2015 was the worst judged FMVP in NBA history…by far) Curry finds himself collecting the award after a great Finals run; Steph averaged 31.2 Points, 6 Rebounds, 5 Asissts, 2 Steals and 2.5 Turnovers while shooting 48% Field Goal Percentage and 44% 3 Point Percentage. He shot over 50% from the field three times and shot over 50% from 3 point range 4 times averaging 5.2 makes per game, the stats are ridiculous.
Game 1 saw Golden State give up a 3rd Quarter lead at home as Boston, who came out victorious scored 40 points in the 4th Quarter while the Warriors struggled to score late in the game. This was made possible with big performances from Al Horford who scored 26 PTS on 9/12 shooting a d Derrick White who scored 21 off the bench.
Game 2 was a Warriors bounce back win, Steph scored 29 and didn’t play the 4th quarter. The game was effectively over after a deep Jordan Poole 3ball at the 3rd quarter buzzer put them up 23 going into the 4th.
Game 3 saw another great Curry performance as he put up 31PTS with 15 of those coming in the 3rd. This was Klays best offensive game of the series too as he put up 25PTS but the Celtics big 3 of Tatum, Brown and Smart had other ideas as all 3 scored more than 24PTS and had more than 5AST and 5REB a piece to set up another Boston win as they went 2-1 up in the series. This set up a must win game 4 in Boston. The Celtics were looking very good while Golden State were struggling to score outside of Curry and Golden State couldn’t stop the C’s offence from getting to their spots.
Cue a signature performance from Chef Curry. Game 4 saw Curry score 43PTS on 26 shot attempts shooting 54% FG and 50% 3P. To do it in TD Garden with your back against the wall, it might go down as his greatest performance ever. Watching it felt like you were watching a masterpiece, the 3rd quarter especially when he went 4/5 from 3 and scored 14. The man had me speechless. The icing on the cake was his dagger 3 in Derrick White’s face which encapsulated his night as he was truly unstoppable, iso, off the screen, pull ups from everywhere and tough finishes in the lane. Curry’s 43 PTS against a Celtics defence playing at the highest level was nothing short of amazing.
During those first 4 games he averaged 34.3 PTS shooting 50% FG and 49% 3PT at this point in the series he was averaging more points than Jason Tatum’s FG% at the time. In a playoff run where Boston contained KD and Kyrie, made Giannis shoot well below his average FG% and while Jimmy Butler had 3 massive games against the Celtics, he also had a 3 game stretch where he averaged 9PTS. Steph Curry on the other hand barely looked effected despite the amount of defensive attention he was receiving.
Then came game 5, the most interesting game of the series for me and also the Andrew Wiggins game. After barely receiving any offensive help during the initial 4 games of the series the Celtics decided Curry was not going to beat them. The C’s face guarded Curry at half court for a lot of the game refusing to take eyes and a defender off of him for even a second. This resulted in 4v4 and some 4v3 basketball for the Warriors as they threw the kitchen sink at Steph. The result was an off night offensively for the later FMVP as he couldn’t get his 3PT shot to fall going 0/9 snapping a 200+ game streak of making at least 1 3PT shot in a game. This didn’t stop him scoring on the inside and playmaking very well but it did limit his offensive firepower and that’s where Andrew Wiggins came in to save the day. While the Celtic’s slowed Curry it had the reverse effect for the rest of the Warriors. Wiggins scored 26PTS he also had 13REB and came up big the whole night for Golden State, be that on offence or defence. Klay was massive hitting 5/11 3’s for 21 PTS and the backcourt bench of Gary Payton II and Jordan Poole combined for a further 29 while Curry only had 16 PTS. If there ever was a game that could prove Curry is more than just a shooter it is this game, not many players in NBA history can be as effective while not being able to make their go to shots, his games adaptability and the gravity he pulls on the court are ridiculous. The Warriors still won the game by double digits despite his struggles shooting the ball.
The close out game 6. I’d argue this 34PT game 6 performance last night was his second best display of the series. Curry closed out the Celtics scoring 13PTS in the 4th as the Celtics stormed back from a 22 point deficit. He did this on a night when nobody else had it going offensively as they chose not to face guard Curry at half court like in game 5. Big shout out to Draymond Green for chipping in on that end with timely buckets. He hit a huge contested mid range in the 4th after the Celtics cut the lead and were beginning to pile pressure on Golden State, he had even hit 2 shots from 3PT range earlier in the game, his first 2 makes from 3 the entire series. However, it was the 34/7/7 performance from Steph that pushed them to their 4th ring during this dynastic run.
I don’t think it could have happened in a more fitting way everything revolved around him and he performed exceptionally well against one of the best defences of all time and against the Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart. For Curry to make this Championship happen it dispels the narrative that he is not capable of winning alone and being the best player in the finals. He did it in a year where he broke the 3PT record set by Ray Allen and became the all star MVP for the first time capping it all off with a Championship and a FMVP completing a great year for himself and the Golden State Warriors.
With a 4th Ring and his long awaited FMVP in his possession it’s not a crazy assumption to assume Curry and the Warriors will be in a position to compete for a 5th title next season, especially if the young talents like Wiseman, Kuminga and Moody can develop like Jordan Poole has. With a roster like this the NBA should be scared.
