Maybe it was the knee and ankle injuries that forced him to miss six games earlier in the playoffs. Maybe it was the matchup against Cleveland or the weight of history bearing down on him. For whatever reason, Steph Curry wasn’t the same player in the NBA Finals.
Stephen Curry’s magic ran out just when the Warriors needed it most
Stephen Curry has been brilliant for the Warriors for two seasons, but he couldn’t deliver with history on the line in Game 7.
Curry’s struggles all series were encapsulated in two late possessions in Game 7. First he allowed Kyrie Irving to drain a clutch three-pointer, then he couldn’t shake the stone-footed Kevin Love on the other end.
With 1:09 remaining in Game 7, Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue called for a timeout. Both teams were struggling to generate clean looks. Nearly four minutes had gone by since Cleveland's last basket. The game had been locked at 89 since the 4:39 mark. James was fantastic all evening, but also looked gassed. He was spending more time pounding the ball into the floor than attacking the rim. He even short-armed a couple baby hooks in the paint.
Lue decided it was time for a different set. LeBron James took the ball out on the left sideline and tossed it in to Kyrie Irving. Klay Thompson, Golden State’s top perimeter defender, was on him. Curry was on the hip of J.R. Smith, who was stationed at the foul line. Irving took a couple dribbles to his right, Smith dashed up to set a screen on Thompson and suddenly the Cavaliers had the matchup they wanted: Curry all alone on Irving.
Irving put the ball through his legs a couple of times, took one hard dribble with his right hand, rose up and released a picturesque jump shot over the outstretched arms of Curry. The ball ripped through the net.
Killer instinct. Thank you @KyrieIrving pic.twitter.com/6iHuGCp3lc
— Cameron Krantz (@attaboycam) June 20, 2016
The Cavs had targeted Curry on switches throughout the series, and the strategy paid off in a big way when Cleveland needed it most. Curry gave Irving just enough space to get off a good look, which wound up being the dagger in the Warriors’ historic season.
Of course, had Curry matched Irving on the following possession of the game we might be remembering things differently now. And he had every opportunity to do so, too. Through some nifty screen-the-screener action the Warriors created the matchup they'd been hunting all series: Kevin Love on Curry. Taking advantage of Love's inept defense was supposed to be Golden State's avenue to a second consecutive title and here, in their most important possession of the season, the Warriors had their slippery league MVP isolated against him.
And yet, Curry just couldn't shake free. He put the ball behind his back and darted right; Love was there. He cut back to his left; Love was still there. He gave the ball up to Draymond Green, begged for it back, received it, pump-faked, dribbled left, crossed back over to his right, stopped, pump-faked again. Love was there the entire time.
Curry settled for a chuck from his right hip. It clanked against the backboard, then the rim, then fell into the hands of LeBron James.
He admitted after the game that on this possession he should looked to blow by Love instead of taking an awkward pull-up.
“I was searching for a three and rushed and didn’t take what was there,” Curry said. “Which was probably better to go around him and try to get into the paint.”
It was shocking to see Curry struggle in such a big moment, but the Cavs had limited him all series. His field goal percentage in the restricted area fell from 66 percent in the regular season to 48 percent in the Finals. Golden State averaged 1.24 points per possession on plays where they ran a Curry-Green pick-and-roll in the regular season, according to ESPN's Zach Lowe. In the first six games of the finals that number plummeted to an embarrassing .625 points per possession. Part of that is because Curry was unable to make Cleveland pay for switching a big man onto him.
Curry finished Game 7 with just 17 points. He shot only 6-of-19 from the field and 4-of-14 from deep. He turned the ball over four times and on defense surrendered numerous good looks. None of this means that he’s a choker or that there’s something inside of Curry that prevents him from performing on the biggest stage. But after Game 7, it’s fair to say the Cavaliers exposed some holes in Curry’s game. The crunch-time possessions proved that.
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