Draymond Green and Kevin Durant made headlines Tuesday when KD called Green’s take about Steph Curry facing double-teams in the NBA Finals “100% false."
But Green accused his former teammate of taking his quote out of context, saying that Durant has to listen to “full takes and not snippets” before chiming in.
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Durant quickly responded to Green, defending his take.
Green’s original point was that Curry doesn’t have a Finals MVP partially because he saw so many more double-teams than Durant during the Warriors' 2017 and 2018 championship seasons.
“Kevin Durant was absolutely incredible in those Finals runs,” Green said Monday on “The Colin Cowherd Podcast.”
Golden State Warriors
“... Steph Curry got double-teamed probably seven times the amount that KD did in a given series. So when you watch those games and you say, ‘Ah, [Curry’s] numbers could be a little down,’ he’s facing a double team.”
Durant rightfully won Finals MVP for those two seasons, putting together spectacular numbers in the Warriors’ two victories over the Cleveland Cavaliers (35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 2017 and 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists in 2018), but it’s clear that KD and Draymond disagree over the particulars of Green’s explanation.
Green’s entire segment focused more on defending Curry’s Finals performance than anything else, as he discussed how Curry’s immense value to winning basketball goes well beyond the numbers.
“The impact that [Curry] has on the game … if you don’t understand basketball, and thoroughly understand it – not understand the stat sheet – if you don’t understand basketball, which most people don’t in your space …” Green told Cowherd.
“Then yeah, you’re going to come out and you’re going to say ‘He needs to validate that by a Finals MVP’ because that’s all you can see. You then go and you say, ‘This guy won a Finals MVP, that must be the guy that’s doing X, Y and Z.’”
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Curry has been criticized, albeit unfairly, by various members of the media over his performance in the NBA Finals and for not having a Finals MVP to his name. But whether you look at the numbers or beyond, Curry’s spectacular impact is clear. Across 28 career Finals games, Curry is averaging MVP-type numbers of 26.5 points, 6.2 assists and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 38.5 percent from 3-point range.
But Curry lost out on Finals MVP to Andre Iguodala in 2015 and Durant in 2017 and 2018, giving his critics fodder to throw fuel to the fire.
Silly narrative or not, Curry will take aim for his first Finals MVP and fourth championship on Thursday when the Warriors host the Boston Celtics for Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Chase Center.