Shoe and apparel brand Under Armour had it all planned out — a second banner, another ring, a second (and this time unanimous) MVP — they were all gonna be part of a happy-go-lucky ad for the upcoming Curry 3 shoe set to debut the next season.

They had every single accolade and record Stephen Curry had broken in mind, but as the championship slipped away from the Golden State Warriors‘ grasp, they were forced to crumble the script and start from scratch in a different direction.

“We started planning it as he was going into the Finals, and at that point, 73-9 was something we talked about, and we assumed the win,” brand marketing director Adrienne Lofton told Nick DePaula of The Vertical. “We built the commercial around the win.”

“We had this idea that was sunny and bright, happy and fun – but he lost. The team lost,” Lofton said. “They didn’t deliver the championship that he planned to deliver. We shared the [original] idea with Stephen and Kris Stone [Under Armour’s director of basketball sports marketing], and they immediately said, ‘This is not it.’ We had to rip up the paper weeks before we were supposed to shoot.”

Rather than going over all of his broken records and accolades again, Curry wanted to face the scrutiny of blowing a 3-1 Finals lead head-on.

“Stephen wanted to acknowledge the record because it was a moment in time that was real, it hurt and drove him to work even harder this offseason,” Stone said. “Being the league MVP and leader of his team, he wanted to acknowledge what happened… face it head-on and work his tail off to try and make sure the outcome is different the next time around.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get the memory of the Finals out of my head, because it happened and I felt every emotion,” said Curry. “I think it’s a good thing that it’ll live there as a motivator.”

The ad was shot in Oakland with several local children used as extras, the brand still kept the all-time wins in a season record 73-9 in the script.

Only it was followed with a kid questioning Curry: “And no ring?”

“Missed championship? That’s fresh. That’s new,” Curry replies.

“This commercial is very real, very relevant,” Curry said. “It’s acknowledging what happened in the Finals and how we’re going to move on from that, push on and not let that define a career or a story.”