Stephen Curry is ready and motivated for next season thanks to a viewing of Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Curry told Darren Rovell of ESPN that he’d only recently watched the game back for the first time.
“I was a little mad at myself and getting back into the grind of working out for next season,” Curry said Saturday, while on an Under Armour-sponsored tour of Asia. “I think it was a good motivator to get back into the gym and keep working.
“I wasn’t 100 percent, but who cares? I was playing. I was out there trying to help my team win and that’s all that really matters. I’ve taken advantage of the summer to get right and I still have a little bit of work to go.”
Curry is amused by the narrative of the Warriors being villains.
“I kind of laugh at that,” Curry said. “Obviously how the Finals ended [and] what happened, that’s sports. That’s what you love about it. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. Obviously it stinks to not win, but playing for a championship for two years in a row has been an amazing, amazing journey and I don’t think it’s over.
“All that narrative around our team, how people view us, doesn’t really matter to us. We are who we are and we’re championship contenders going forward.”
He’s not worried about pressure, though, feeling that last season was as pressure-filled as it could get.
“I honestly don’t think there could be any more pressure than we had last year,” Curry said. “Coming off a championship, winning 73 games and being expected to win another [title], obviously it didn’t happen. It’s going to be a different vibe because it’s a different team and different dynamics with different players with KD joining us. … We have probably six or seven new guys.”
The cautions have been made that Golden State will need some time to adjust. However, they’re going to be really talented and really motivated after last season’s NBA Finals, which is probably a bad combination for the rest of the league.
