Nick Young made headlines recently when he claimed that in 2018, Stephen Curry almost cried in the locker room because he was about to lose the Finals MVP award to Kevin Durant. Now, a video has resurfaced on X where Curry could be seen being visibly upset after the Golden State Warriors went up 3-0 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
lmaoooo we haven’t revisited that moment in awhile 🤣 https://t.co/QcsBAZgK3Y pic.twitter.com/2wcHZKgHof
— ♕𝕕𝕒𝕧𝕠𓅓 (@shpillo_) June 12, 2024
In Game 3, Curry had one of his worst games ever in the Finals. He finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal while going 3-16 from the field and 1-10 from beyond the arc.
Durant, meanwhile, had 43 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block to lead the Warriors to a 110-102 win. He also went an efficient 15-23 from the field and 6-9 from beyond the arc, with the last of those threes being that iconic dagger from way downtown.
Up to that game, there was little to separate Curry and Durant in that Finals MVP race. After that, though, there was only going to be one winner.
The Warriors would end up sweeping the Cavaliers and Durant was named Finals MVP for the second straight year. He received 7 of the 11 votes for the award while Curry got the rest. Some have argued in the years since that the guard should have won it, but the numbers say otherwise.
2018 NBA Finals Stats
Kevin Durant: 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 0.8 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game
Stephen Curry: 27.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game
Durant also shot 52.6% from the field while Curry shot 40.2%. I firmly believe that the Finals MVP ended up in the hands of the right player that year.
Stephen Curry Explained His Emotions After Game 3 Of The 2018 Finals
While Young believed Curry was upset after that game because he knew he was not going to win Finals MVP, the Warriors guard revealed a completely different reason for it. Curry told Bob Myers on “Lead by Example” that he was just upset because he had played poorly.
“There was one game, 2018 (Finals) Game 3,” Curry said. “Like there was conversations, you go to the media, they’re asking about it. You look at the stat lines and all this, ‘If they sweep them (the Cleveland Cavaliers), who really is gonna get it? KD or Steph?’ I was getting asked that question in the middle of the Finals, so obviously as a human being, your mind starts to think about certain outcomes and all of that. And I played like trash in Game 3.”
“But the Finals MVP, I knew it was done after that,” Curry continued. “It was part of the emotional roller coaster ride of, ‘Oh, that would have been cool, to have kept that level of play going because that might have got there’, but it’s also, we won, and you’re dealing with a little bit of both of that.”
“I think Andre (Iguodala) had his arm around me on the way back to the tunnel,” Curry stated. “We just won and I was down on myself because of how I played and everybody took it as a context like, ‘He just kicked the Finals MVP thing away.’ Yeah, I thought about it once or twice, but I was really upset because I played like trash.”
Steph Curry on his emotions after Game 3 of the 2018 finals:
“People thought it was because I kicked the Finals MVP thing away… the reason I was upset was because I played like trash.” https://t.co/IC2HnxMAU4 pic.twitter.com/fBM7Esa20l
— Anika ✨ (@WardeIICurry30) June 12, 2024
I’ll take Curry at his word here, but I wouldn’t blame anyone who doesn’t. Whatever the reason was, he did get that monkey off his back by finally winning Finals MVP in 2022 when the Warriors beat the Boston Celtics in six games.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We really appreciate your support.
