Draymond Green and Kevin Durant made headlines on Tuesday when KD called Green’s belief that Stephen Curry faced a double-team in the NBA Finals “100 percent wrong.”
But Green accused his former teammates of taking it out of context, saying Durant had to listen to “full clips rather than clips” before interjecting.
Durant responded quickly to Green, defending his point.
Green’s original point was that Curry didn’t have a Finals MVP, in part because he saw more double-teams than Durant during the Warriors’ 2017 and 2018 championship seasons.
“Kevin Durant’s performance in the Finals was absolutely unbelievable,” Green said Monday on “The Colin Cowherd Podcast.”
“…Stephen Curry has probably been double-teamed seven times as many times as KD in a given series. So when you watch those games, you’re like, ‘Ah, [Curry’s] The numbers may come down a bit,” he said. “He’s facing a double-team.”
Durant deservedly won the Finals MVP both seasons, putting up staggering numbers in the Warriors’ two-time win over the Cleveland Cavaliers (35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 2017, 2018). 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists), but it’s clear that KD and Draymond disagree on the details of Green’s explanation.
Green’s entire section is more focused on defending Curry’s Finals performance as he discusses how Curry’s immense value to winning basketball goes way beyond the numbers.
“influences [Curry] There are…
“And then, yeah, you’d come out and you’d say, ‘He needs to get through Finals MVP to validate that,’ because that’s all you can see. And then you’re like, ‘This guy won Finals MVP,’ That must be the one doing X, Y and Z.’”
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Despite Curry’s performance in the NBA Finals and his lack of Finals MVP, various members of the media have criticized Curry, albeit unfairly. But whether you look at the numbers or otherwise, Curry’s stunning impact is evident. In 28 career Finals games, Curry averaged MVP-type numbers of 26.5 points, 6.2 assists and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 38.5 percent from three-point range.
But Curry’s losses to Andre Iguodala for Finals MVP in 2015 and to Durant in 2017 and 2018 added fuel to the fire for his critics.
Dumb narrative or not, Curry will be aiming for his first Finals MVP and fourth when the Warriors host the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Chase Center on Thursday. champion.
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