Stephen Curry is having the greatest offensive stretch we have ever seen a player have. He is averaging a career high in points for his career in a single season and he has had at least 30 points in his last 11 games played, the one game he did not play during this stretch, the Warriors lost by 53 points to the Toronto Raptors. In 3 of the 11 games he has scored over 45 points (including these last two games), 5 of the 11 games he has scored over 40 points, and in 8 of the 11 games he has scored over 35 points. The Warriors are 7-5 over the last 12 games and 7-4 in games Curry has played. The stats Curry are putting up are all time stats, they simply are incredible.
In 4 of his last 5 games, Curry has hit 10+ 3 pointers, and he has had 21 career games as such. The next closest is his splash brother Klay Thompson, who has done it 5 times. Over the past 5 games Curry is one game off from being tied for 2nd all time in games with 10+ 3 pointers for a player's career. He has 6 games all season with 10+ 3 pointers made, that would be good enough to be second alone for a career, and we are playing a shortened season. That is ludicrous. These are all time numbers. In his last 2 games he has averaged 48.0 points and 10.5 3 pointers, against the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers, both on the road and on national tv. He and Jayson Tatum had one of the great duels of the season going back and forth in a game that Boston would end up winning Saturday and Monday he went berserk in the final 6 minutes scoring 20 points in a Warriors win. Against the number one team in the Eastern Conference no less. These are MVP type numbers he is putting up, as he leads the NBA in scoring averaging a career high 31.4 points per game. There are a few issues with his MVP case but he is definitely a part of the discussion.
Is Curry the league MVP? Well, let’s who he is going up against. The main leaders right now are 76ers center Joel Embiid and my current pick Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. Embiid was the odds on favorite before he got hurt and missed a few weeks so that has to be taken into consideration. His averages this year are 29.9 points and 11.2 rebounds on 51% from the field and 37% from 3 point range. However, that is in just 39 games. In 57 games this season, Jokic is putting up 26.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and 8.8 assists (Embiid has just 3.1 assists per game) on 56% shooting from the field and 41% from 3 point range. However, Embiid is a much better defensive player. James Harden’s name has been mentioned a bunch but with him being out as of late I think Curry, Embiid, and Jokic are ahead of him. Steph has the numbers, that is not the problem. The issue is what seed do the Warriors need to be for him to get the award. In 2017, when Russell Westbrook won the award the Thunder were 6th in the Western Conference. Right now the Warriors are 9th in the West. What seed do they have to be for Curry to win the award. I do not think they can get to 6 but 7 or 8 is a possibility, that would have them in the play-in. Is that high enough? The Warriors roster is not very good with Klay Thompson missing the season. Guys like Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Kent Bazmore have been the second scorers at different points of the season. One interesting stat that I saw is that the Warriors are 12-3 when Draymond Green scores 8 points. That's 4 baskets. I AM ASKING FOR FOUR BASKETS DRAYMOND! The help Curry has is very limited while Embiid, Jokic, and Harden have all sorts of help on their teams. And yet, Curry has the Warriors at .500 for the season. The Warriors are 1-7 in games Curry does not play. The more I write the more I begin to convince myself of Curry’s MVP case. It is legit and he still has time to continue to build upon it.
We need to appreciate the greatness of Steph Curry because he is so fun to watch and is going to be a top 10 player of all time by the time he retires and maybe the greatest point guard in the history of the game. He is the greatest shooter to ever walk the planet and he revolutionized the game, making the 35 footer and shot that is not frowned upon. So while he is still dominating and is at this level, appreciate it and understand we have never seen this kind of dominance by a single player shooting the ball. Appreciate this greatness while it is still here.
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