Does Steph’s play decline in the Finals? Curry would surely like to play well, win the Finals MVP and end this debate. But what do the numbers say about his Finals numbers vs his other numbers in the regular season and playoffs? Let’s look at the scoring numbers first.
Except for the drop off in 2015-16 from 30.1 to 25.8 to 22.6, the scoring output from the regular season vs the post season, looks pretty good and consistent. So why all the fuss about his performance in the Finals? He’s putting up good numbers, right? But here’s where you have to take a deeper dive to understand Steph’s struggles in the Finals. Let’s also look at his shooting percentages in those years.
Curry’s finals numbers represent a clear drop off from his other postseason series and regular season shooting percentage numbers. In the regular season, he’s never shot under 47% in the years Golden State has made it to the Finals. He’s also never shot below a 46.1% combined percentage in the post season series leading up to the Finals. But when you look at his Finals numbers, he’s never even shot over 44.6 % in any Finals series. He’s even shot below 40% in 2017-18. And in the 2019 Finals when he averaged 30.5 pts a game, he only shot a pedestrian 40.8%, which means he was volume shooting to get to those numbers. So yes, Steph’s Finals numbers are not up to par, which is why he hasn’t won a Finals MVP trophy yet.
Steph has obviously heard these rumors and has worked hard on his body over the years. He knows he has to take on and succeed against the physical play of defensive teams like Boston and the 2016 Cavs. The Celtics will be a huge task for him and a great opponent to get that MVP trophy against. In order to gain that accomplishment, he’ll have to shoot a lot better percentage than he has in his previous 5 Finals appearances. Will he do it and lead his team to victory? Game 1 starts tonight!