In the 16-17 season, after Durant left the Thunder, Westbrook was like a monkey who broke free from the shackles of the "Five Finger Mountain" - averaging 31.6 points, 10.7 boards, 10.4 assists per game, 42.5% shooting rate of the super performance, 42 triple-doubles in a single season, and successfully refreshed Oscar Robertson's record of 41 triple-doubles in a single season, becoming a veritable "active triple-double king".
Curry, who is also excellent in the three-point field, although he has been named the "three-point king" many times; even if he has shot 402 three-pointers in a single season, in fact, the current record of single-game three-point shooting in the regular season (Thompson 14) + playoff single-game three-point shooting rate (Lillard 12) is not exclusively owned by Curry. And the total number of three-point goals in NBA history, due to injuries (19-20 season) and other reasons, Curry has not been able to officially take the step of surpassing Ray Allen...
Curry was officially crowned the all-time three-point king of NBA history
It is also for this reason that before officially surpassing Ray Allen to become the historical three-point king, even if Curry's three-point ability is exceptionally good, if it is directly titled "three-point king", it always gives people a feeling that it is not worthy of the name.
Especially recently, in order to break this record in advance, Curry's personal three-point shooting rate did not rise but fell. In the last three games, he has only shot 6-of-17, 3-of-14 and 5-of-15, averaging 30.4% of three-point shooting per game, which is far from his season average of 40.3% three-point shooting and 5.4 three-pointers.
However, with curry's recent five three-pointers in the Warriors vs Knicks game, he has officially broken the total of 2973 three-pointers held by Ray Allen and officially crowned the all-time three-pointer king! And Ray Allen did it in 1300 games, while Curry only used 789 regular season games...
However, even if Curry successfully surpasses Ray Allen and officially becomes the three-point king in NBA history, even out of blue, there are still many fans who question Curry: they think that his three-point shooting rate and production are excellent, but he always drops the defect of the chain at key moments, which is not a super giant in the league.
So, always dropping the chain at a critical moment, is Curry a super giant?
1, many times at the critical moment to drop the chain, Curry is not super giant at all? If curry's career is the most impressive "off-chain" performance so far, it is the 16-year finals and 18 years of the finals. In the 16 finals, in fact, Curry's play in the first three games was already quite average (11 points, 18 points, 19 points); but fortunately, the Warriors' overall performance and state were better than those of the Cavaliers, so the Warriors were able to get a 3-1 lead...
If the Warriors won the Finals that year, Curry may not have been criticized so "miserable" later — after all, giving the opportunity to teammates who are in better shape is nothing to be black.
But when James and Irving broke out 1-3 behind and led the Cavaliers to force the Warriors into the seven-game game, when the Warriors' overall state was sluggish and they urgently needed the stars to stand up and score steadily - Curry shot 6 of 19 in the seven-game war, only scored 17 points, 5 boards, 2 assists + a fatal back pass, and used the personal performance of "pulling the crotch" to give up the upcoming championship trophy...
In the 18-year finals, Durant, who has won the championship + FMVP with the help of the Warriors, in the case of "having the heart" to complete Curry, only got 26 points, 9 boards and 6 assists, 26 points, 9 boards and 7 assists in the first two games, while Curry got 29 points, 6 boards and 9 assists, 33 points, 7 boards and 8 assists in the first two games. Coupled with the Warriors' 2-0 lead, Curry became the player most likely to win the FMVP at the time.
However, in the G3 of the 18 finals, Curry once again played an aberration in a key game - only 11 points, 5 boards and 6 assists in a single game of 16 shots, and only when Curry played abnormally, the Cavaliers had a chance to take a slight lead of 87-86 in the last quarter of 9 minutes and 33 seconds. Fortunately, this year's Warriors have Durant, in the face of Durant's super ability to attack the stronghold, the Warriors quickly surpassed the score with his help...
In the end, Durant shot 15 of 23 from the field, shot 43 points, 13 boards and 7 assists with 65.2% shooting, and helped the Warriors beat the Cavaliers 110-102 to take a 3-0 lead.
It is also because of curry's G3 'crotch' and Durant G3's "super god", so even though Curry played better than Durant in three games in that round of the finals, the FMVP eventually fell into Durant's hands. And from the perspective of that series, even if there is no "super god" in G3 Curry, as long as he can maintain normal play, the FMVP may have already arrived.
2, without FMVP blessing, how can Curry be considered super giant? From the history of the NBA, in the 90s, Jordan, Olajuwon and other superstars, they were all blessed by MVP + FMVP, which established the superstar status. In the 00s, Duncan, O'Neal, Kobe, etc., also got MVP + FMVP. In recent years, James and Durant have become the "big and small kings" of the league, not only because of their outstanding performance, but also because they have won MVP + FMVP.
Compared with these familiar superstars in the history of the NBA, although Curry has won 2 MVP trophies, 2 scoring king trophies, and even become the player with the most three-point shots in NBA history, he has never won an FMVP trophy...
In the 15-year Finals, due to the miracle + efficient attack of Iguodala's defense of James, he finally won the FMVP trophy with 16.3 points, 5.8 boards, 4.0 assists + 52.1% shooting percentage, and pressure Curry (26.0 points, 5.2 boards, 6.3 assists + 44.3% shooting percentage).
In the 16-year Finals, Curry led the Warriors to a 3-1 lead, but was reversed by the Cavaliers and missed the FMVP; in 17 years, because of Durant's "super god", Curry, whose personal data was slightly average, once again lost to the FMVP.
The 18-year finals are indeed the closest time to the FMVP when Curry is closest to the FMVP in addition to 15 years, but the "crotch" of the G3 finally makes him lose the FMVP; although the personal data is excellent in 19 years, due to the injury of Durant, Thompson and others, the Warriors did not win the championship, and Curry naturally did not have the opportunity to get involved in the FMVP...
From the perspective of the current pattern of the league, the black powder of James and Durant is not in the minority, but their "super giant" name has almost been recognized by the outside world. And Curry has not been recognized by the outside world because he "always dropped the chain at key moments, key matches + reached the finals for five consecutive years but could not get an FMVP". Isn't the personal play stable enough + Curry without FMVP, even if there are two MVPs in hand, is not super giant?
Always drop the chain at key moments, but Curry has played MVP performance many times
Whether it is in the Finals many times, or in the usual key moments of the regular season, Curry's performance of dropping the chain from time to time has indeed created an established impression on people. But behind Curry's lack of ability to attack, he has also played a phenomenal personal performance many times.
In the 15-16 season, Curry led the Warriors to a record of 73 wins and 9 losses with an average of 30.1 points, 5.4 boards, 6.7 assists per game, 50.4% shooting and 45.4% three-point shooting, and he also successfully won the MVP trophy.
In the 20-21 season, without Durant and Thompson sharing the defensive pressure, Curry's targeted defense of the league's 29 teams "BOX-1" averaged 32.0 points, 5.5 boards, 5.8 assists per game, and 48.2% shooting percentage, leading the Warriors to force the top eight in the West at the end of the season. Even if it weren't for the impact of the playoffs' personal physical weakness, the Warriors might have made the playoffs last season...
In the 21-22 season, in the case that Thompson has not yet returned and the Warriors are not optimistic at all, Curry helped the Warriors achieve the league's first record with an MVP performance of averaging 27.5 points, 5.5 boards and 6.3 assists per game, 43.9% shooting, and Wiggins, Poole and others.
Even if he has not obtained an FMVP, Curry has a strong personal influence
While it's true that Curry hasn't won an FMVP in five Finals, his actual influence is far greater than that of many of the league's superstars. First of all, from the perspective of popularity, in addition to James and Durant in the current league, in addition to stabilizing Curry, Alphabet Brother, Leonard and other stars who have won FMVP, their personal influence is far less than Curry, even if Leonard is in Los Angeles...
Secondly, from the perspective of basketball, Curry's extremely fast, ultra-far three-point shot method almost broke people's cognition that "the closer to the Nets, the easier it is to score", and led the league into the era of small ball. It is precisely because of this that stars such as Trae Young and Jokic will be so "popular".
It could even be argued that Curry has changed the way the NBA plays, revolutionizing people's bias against three-pointers. This is something that ray Allen, Thompson and other three-point masters have never done and cannot do. Therefore, even without the blessing of FMVP, with Curry's super personal influence, it does not mean that he has not reached the super giant ranks.
Compared with Jordan, Kobe, Durant and other stars who integrate attack and defense, Curry is the most blackened - dropping the chain at key moments, attacking ability, etc., which is more like "wanting to add guilt, why bother".
Because Jordan, Kobe, Durant and other stars, with their physical talent and technical characteristics, are suitable for strong attacks at key moments; and Curry's physical talents and technical characteristics do not support him to attack at key moments, in contrast, Jordan, Kobe, durant eat more physical talent, and Curry eats more feel.
That is to say, Curry is not good at attacking at key moments, you prefer him to attack, what kind of performance can he give? What's more, under the "BOX-1" target defense, even Durant, Kobe, etc. may not be able to surpass the gods.
In summary, even if the key moment of the attack ability is not good + has not obtained the FMVP, has always made Curry controversial; but the personal performance of the MVP level has been repeatedly demonstrated, in fact, it has already proved Curry's hard power; and the super personal influence has long proved that Curry has reached a super giant level. If even Curry is not supergiant, how many people in active service dare to call it supergiant?