CLEVELAND -- First things first, Stephen Curry will play in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night at Oracle Arena.
While it’s perfectly reasonable for those legions of title-starved Cleveland Cavaliers fans to wish for him to be suspended after firing a mouth guard fastball late Thursday night in the Golden State Warriors’ 115-101 loss in Game 6, league officials wasted no time afterward educating the masses on past precedent that is expected to keep the back-to-back MVP on the floor.
A hefty fine is coming, with Curry able to play in the biggest game of his life because his oral accessory hit a fan as opposed to an official (which typically results in a one-game suspension).
So with that said, let the unwinding of this fantastic finish to the season begin.
How perfectly poetic that Curry, the newly-crowned king of the NBA who spent the past eight months changing the game and making history, finds himself on the ropes against Cleveland’s prodigal-son-turned-savior who has been known as King James for, oh, 14 years now? Amid all the fun and frivolity on the floor afterward, where the locals who have to hear about their city’s 52-year title drought were so relieved that the Warriors didn’t celebrate a championship on their home floor for the second straight year, a man commented that Mark Twain couldn’t have written this any better himself.
The truth, however, is that James is authoring a basketball tale that just might go down as the best of all time.
Not only is he turning in the kinds of virtuoso performances that are adding to his Hall of Fame resume’, but he’s demoralizing a fellow great and his all-time team along the way. Curry and the Warriors are shook.
You could see it in the mouth guard moment, when Curry reached in on James for a steal and cracked in a way we’ve never seen. The first ejection of his career, with Curry screaming at official Jason Phillips before getting the heave-ho with 4:22 left and the Cavs up 99-87, was like kerosene for the Cavs’ fire. And just 10 seconds earlier, after a James jumper had led to back-to-back alley-oops between him and Tristan Thompson, there was James doing all he could to crawl inside Curry’s cranium.
His blocked Curry layup had a schoolyard bully feel to it, James chasing the back-to-back MVP down the left side of the lane and swatting his shot into the stands. The mean mug. The trash talk. The bobbing of the head, with James’ forehead dripping with the sweat of superiority.
You could see it in that second-half stretch where he scored or assisted on 27 consecutive points, a feat so unreal that it had his co-star, Kyrie Irving, shaking his head in astonishment on the press conference podium. The Warriors, whose defense was supposed to be dominant again with Draymond Green’s return from his Game 5 suspension and whose super sixth man, Andre Iguodala, played through back spasms that will likely plague him on Sunday, were helpless to stop him.
Just days before, this 31-year-old with so many miles logged had many wondering if he still had it in him to deliver an epic Finals outing, and here he had done it twice in a row.
Game 5: 41 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, three steals, three blocks, two turnovers.
Game 6: 41 point, 11 assists, eight rebounds, four steals, three blocks, one turnover.
Curry, whose stat line these last two games belies the truth about his underwhelming impact, simply can’t keep up.
“He’s had two great games to keep his team alive,” said Curry, who had 30 points, one assist, two rebounds and four turnovers before getting bounced. “You know, that’s what he’s supposed to do. I’m out there trying to do the same for my team. We don’t go one-on-one at each other a lot, but it’s a pretty competitive feeling out there with the situation of playing in The Finals and playing for something special.
“So at the end of the day, seven games to figure out who is going to be holding that trophy on Sunday, you’ve got to love that kind of environment and that battle. So haven’t enjoyed it much the last two games, but there are 48 minutes left.”
Yet beyond all the history that’s on the Warriors’ side, from the 15-3 record for home teams in a Finals Game 7 to the fact that no one has ever given up a 3-1 lead in the Finals, it was Curry’s composure afterward that made you wonder if his Warriors might be all right.
“We know what kind of team we are, what we’re capable of, what we’ve accomplished so far, and how together we are,” Curry said. “We haven’t splintered at all. I think we’re more mentally tough than letting two games not go our way kind of put any doubt in our heads.
“So like Coach (Steve Kerr) said, if you started the season in October and said you’d be at home Game 7 with a chance to win the NBA Finals, you’ve got to love that kind of opportunity, regardless of how it happened.”
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