Stephen Curry has never won an NBA Finals MVP, which is somewhat of a surprise given all he has accomplished in his career. Draymond Green this week tried to explain why that means nothing for Curry’s legacy, and Kevin Durant did not appreciate the way Green went about it.
On the latest episode of his podcast, Green spoke about Curry not having an NBA Finals MVP award in his trophy case. He said anyone who thinks his Golden State Warriors teammate needs that piece of hardware to complete his resume does not know how the game works. Green said one of the reasons Durant was named NBA Finals MVP twice is because Curry was double-teamed way more than K.D.
“Kevin Durant was absolutely incredible in those Finals runs as you know,” Green said. “You watched it. We all watched it. Kevin Durant was absolutely insane. Steph Curry got double-teamed probably seven times the amount that KD did in a given series. So, when you watch those games and you say, ‘Ah, his numbers could be a little down…’ He’s facing a double team.”
As he often does, Durant responded on Twitter. He said Green’s claim about double-teams is “100% false.”
From my view of it, this is 100% false… https://t.co/of6pFJUfvi
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) May 31, 2022
A lot of game footage would have to be analyzed to see how many double-teams Durant and Curry faced during Golden State’s NBA Finals runs. However, Green’s claim was supported by something Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyrann Lue said after his team faced the Warriors back in February.
Lue, who was the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers three of the times they faced the Warriors in the Finals, said he has so much respect for Curry that he had his teams focus primarily on Curry even with Durant and Klay Thompson on the floor.
“You got to remember in 2017 and 2018, we blitzed (Curry) still with Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant on the floor,” Lue said. “That’s how dangerous I think he is.”
Green obviously did not mean to diminish what Durant accomplished. Though, the two have had some very public feuds over the years. He was simply stating that Curry not winning an NBA Finals MVP award in three tries is not an indicator of his importance to the team. We are not surprised Durant felt the need to chime in.
