While a brilliant 33-point Game 2 performance could easily make Stephen Curry a prisoner of the moment, the two-time MVP is still fueled by the disappointment of walking out of the bowels of Oracle Arena empty-handed, failing to bring back the Larry O'Brien trophy to the Bay Area despite a record-breaking 73-9 regular season.
“It’s a distant memory but I still feel that feeling,” Curry told Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports. “It’s a good reminder of how fragile, how tough it is to win a championship. The difference between winning and losing in a Finals game is a couple of possessions here or there, a top guy not playing at his peak.”
The series took a drastic turn once Draymond Green was suspended for Game 5 of the series, forced to watch the game at the Oakland Athletics facilities, as they share the same venue, only a walk away from Oracle Arena.
While most people blame Green's antics for a turn of the tide, Curry knows that blown 3-1 lead was also a dip in performance by him, the newly-crowned and first unanimous MVP in the history of the league.
“Those last three games of 2016, I wasn’t great at all,” said Curry, who is currently averaging 31 points per game through two games in these NBA Finals. “It was a tough pill to swallow. I don’t want to be in that position again. It’s kind of why I just enjoy being back here again and having an opportunity to win a championship doing what I do.”
Curry is lined up for an elusive Finals MVP award this season, with sensational play and a very focused approach to the fourth edition of this June rivalry with the Cleveland Cavaliers, saving perhaps his best performances for what could be the last time these two teams meet at this stage.
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