Did anybody see Stephen Curry?
First, I would like to express the fact that I consider Stephen Curry a great player and definitely the best shooter of all time, no doubt about that, but he kind of disappeared now, when the Warriors needed him most. Curry didn’t score for about 5 minutes in the first quarter, this marking the biggest span of time in which he went dry, and that’s uncharacteristic for him, especially in such an important game like this. He also turned the ball over 1 time and got blocked by Kawhi in that quarter.
Curry continued to struggle in the second as well, scoring only 2 points, turning the ball over easily once again and missing some kind of forced threes. He didn’t seem to have any idea in offense in the first half, and even if he saw that the threes just didn’t fall, he kept shooting them, instead of trying to get to the rim or get others involved, because ok, it can be understood that the Raptors defensive game plan was oriented on Steph, as they often doubled him, sometimes even triple-teamed him, but he couldn’t find his teammates whom were given spaces as a result of that. Steph turned the ball over three times in total, made 6 from 17 for a percentage of 35,3% from-the-field and 3 from 11 from 3-point land for a total of 27,3%. A very poor shooting night, so given the circumstances, you would expect a bit more from him in a game like that. Also, in the final possession he took yet another forced three, instead of trying to get closer to the basket, as the floor was kind of open because of that long inbound pass.
Sure, it doesn’t matter now anymore, and it’s much easier said than done, but Stephen Curry could’ve handled it with a little more basketball IQ there. You live and die by the three, as they say, and he is definitely a player that relies on that saying. This time it was the reverse of that, and unfortunately for him, it came in a very bad moment, because he had a chance to prove those haters that say he doesn’t have a Finals MVP for a reason wrong. Steph finished the game with 21 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists.
