Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has some interesting but valid comments about this year's play-in tournament.
For those unaware, the NBA has changed the structure of the 2020-21 regular season to address the shortened campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of the regular 82 game schedule, the NBA capitalized on the buzz from last summer's bubble in Orlando to condense this season into 72 games for each team, with the 7th through 10th seeds facing each other in a play-in tournament at the end to finalize entry into the postseason proper.
This structure has been met with criticism from players at varying points throughout the season, headlined by Curry's Warriors teammate in Draymond Green and Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic. According to Green, he wasn't motivated by the prospect of making the play-in tournament, while Doncic questioned the point of it, especially for the 7th and 8th seeds in each conference who would have automatically entered into the postseason by record under the previous format.
Curry, however, has a different take compared to the two. After all, he sees the benefit of it, especially for a Warriors team that is 9th in the West with a 28-28 record.
“I like the opportunity that's in front of us…We have an opportunity to make this season mean something down the stretch because of the play-in. The opportunity of peaking at the right time,” Stephen Curry explained to Rachel Nichols of ESPN, per NBC Sports.
Going 1-on-1 with @StephenCurry30 on his 🔥 scoring streak, his future in Golden State, plus I asked if he agrees with Draymond & Luka about the play-in (spoiler: he does not). Also: the phrase “butt pad” came up much more than I expected in this interview 😂 pic.twitter.com/OV1P0JPZaz
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 16, 2021
The Warriors, of course, were expected to write off the 2021 season after Klay Thompson went down with an injury over the offseason. But almost singlehandedly, Curry has led a largely disappointing Golden State roster to playoff contention with stats reminiscent of his back-to-back MVP seasons.
It stands to reason that he would not want all that effort to be in vain. We'll see if he and the Warriors can keep it up.
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