The Golden State Warriors are in possession of the best record in the league right now. At 18-2, the Dubs are literally the best team in the NBA at the moment and as it is, they are definitely looking like legitimate title contenders for the 2022 title.
It's hard to imagine how this same Warriors team, albeit without their superstar point guard in Stephen Curry, produced an NBA-worst 15-50 record during the 2019-20 season. How times have changed.
Not many believed that the Warriors could achieve what they have early in this season. As a matter of fact, there were some who believe (and perhaps others who still do) that the Dubs were done — that Golden State had already lived out its glory years. For his part, Stephen Curry actually believes that all the doubt was warranted:
“Well, why would they think we could?” Curry told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “We had some of the worst situations happen with [Kevin Durant] getting hurt and leaving, Klay being out and then his Achilles, and our brand of basketball looked different with who was out there on the court.”
To be fair, Curry missed virtually the entire 2019-20 campaign. Last season, the former back-to-back MVP was able to return, but he just did not have the right supporting cast. The same cannot be said early in this campaign, though, with Curry and Co. currently looking like the dynasty Warriors of old.
Be that as it may, Steph himself admitted that even he had some doubts about his Warriors:
“I was talking to Draymond about this on the plane ride down here,” he said. “You have to understand how quickly things can change around the league. And there was a little doubt that crept in with us wondering would the business take over before we get to have a chance to get back with the injuries and decisions that need to be made all the while you're working your ass off to get back physically and mentally into this very spot.”
Curry gets brutally honest here about his self-doubts and it's actually quite refreshing. It's not very often that one of the best players in the league reveals their vulnerability and this is exactly what Steph has done here. Then again, his truthfulness is one of the things that makes Steph truly admirable.
“We always felt that if we could just get some pieces, we can be right back where we wanted to be,” he added. “So we know we got a long way to go, but we heard all of it obviously about our team being done. And that's why I said, ‘Why wouldn’t they say that?’ because as great as it was for five years, it took a drastic downturn pretty quick.”
Curry's uncertainties seemed to have been short-lived. After all, you do not become the best shooter in the history of the game if you continuously question your ability to achieve greatness. As he stated earlier, the mental challenges he had to go through were equally as difficult as the physical hurdles he had to overcome. And right now, it is clear that Stephen Curry has conquered them all.
Knowing Steph, it is likely that he used these doubts as motivation to get back to where he is right now. At 33, Curry is making a very strong case for his third Most Valuable Player trophy while leading the Warriors to what is looking like a legitimate title run this season.
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