The NBA Finals 2022 it may end up being the greatest achievement of his career Stephen Curry. After missing it Playoffs completely in back-to-back seasons, the point guard led him warriors for his fourth championship in eight years, tying him with LeBron James for the most rings among active players.
It took Curry and Golden State six games to finish some Boston Celtics who won Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jimmy Butler on their journey to the Finalssmall. He had one of the best streaks of all time and won his first Finals MVP in the process.
Much of the criticism surrounding Curry’s previous performances has been exaggerated, but nothing comes close to what he did against the Celtics.
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Stephen Curry’s historic level in the 2022 Finals
His performance Curry it was special. Throughout the series he averaged 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals on 48.2% shooting from the field. If that wasn’t enough, he made 5.2 3-pointers per game at a 43.7% accuracy rate.
Steph made a total of 31 3-pointers in the six games. It is the second furthest shot in a ring tie. The maximum; That’s right, Carrie.. In 2016 he added 32 in a streak that went 7 games.
Arguably, the Warriors point guard had the best performance of his career in Game 4. If he hadn’t scored 43 points, the Celtics would surely have taken a 3-1 series lead and won.
He was insufferable that night and, besides, he did it in Boston.
As already mentioned, Curry was named Finals MVP for the first time in his career. She received all 11 votes for the award, so it was unanimous.
How the Celtics’ Stephen Curry ended up in the 2022 Finals
To make Curry’s numbers even more impressive, add that the Boston Celtics was the best defense of the Regular Season, placing themselves behind only the Bucks in defensive ratio in the Playoffs.
Not only that, but as Steph Noh of The Sporting News wrote after the headline, the greens had the ideal personnel to stop Curry:
Their physical level put them in front, as well as their ability to switch, the mix of both aspects put them in front of the cards to stop the Warriors. The Celtics sent the 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year (Smart) to defend Curry, and five other Green players earned first-team defensive votes.
The Celtics were able to undermine Curry in certain areas of their game. Compared to the regular season and the first three rounds of the playoffs, the point guard didn’t score off blocks and receive as often.
Knowing how dangerous he is off the ball, with Steph’s constant movement producing many high-percentage shots for him and his teammates, the Celtics changed everything he was involved with.
Golden State responded by getting Steph involved in a lot more pick-and-rolls and gave him freedom in one-on-ones.
Results? According to InStat, Curry scored on pace 1.11 points per possession on direct blocks and 1.24 points per possession in clarified in the Finals. Had he done so in the Regular Phase, he would have been the absolute leader in both categories.
The Celtics were brave and tried a lot of different things to slow down the future Finals MVP.
But none of that worked.
The Finals began with Curry punishing every Boston run block with long 3-pointers. When they changed, it damaged them in the rinses. And when they tried to double him, it gave the rest of Golden State more options to play 4-on-3 situations.
Curry also created a play for the rest 5.0 assists and 10.0 leads per night, which put him behind only Jayson Tatum and Draymond Green.
The Celtics defense did not fail. Curry just beat them.
It was a show about the history of one of the all-time greats in full swing.
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