An MVP Stephen Curry made DPOY Kawhi Leonard touch earth without even having the basketball in his hands
There aren’t many players on planet earth who can make a fool out of Kawhi Leonard on defensive duty, but in this one instance, Stephen Curry did him badly.
Stephen Curry established himself as a legitimate superstar in the game of basketball in the 2014-15 season when he made his 1st All-NBA First-team selection and his first MVP while leading the Warriors to arguably their toughest championship to date.
Many might say that this year was their toughest one considering it was a comeback to the top while defeating some of the best teams in the league but the Warriors’ playoff run of 2015 was something else. It was the first in which an All-NBA first-team selection (Curry) eliminated every other first-team selection on the way to a championship.
Following that year, carrying the pressure of a reigning champion and being the team to beat, the Dubs came out even better and proved themselves arguably the best team in the history of the game smashing almost every regular season record and finishing 2015-16 at 73-9. That’s still an NBA record for most wins in a season.
That was again due to The Chef’s brilliance who led in scoring, steals and whatnot, made it to the 50-40-90 club, and won the league’s first and only unanimous MVP award.
Greatest MVP Season Ever? 2015-16 Steph Curry was on a different level.
30.1 PPG (league leader)
6.7 APG
2.1 SPG (league leader)
50/45/90 splits— Vintage NBA (@vintagenba_) February 28, 2022
It was the things he did to the best players in the league that left no doubt in anybody’s mind about his greatness.
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When Stephen Curry made DPOY Kawhi Leonard touch the floor without even having the ball in his hands
By the end of 2014-15, Kawhi Leonard has also established himself as one of the best players in the league, surprisingly, without even making an All-Star appearance as he won the Finals MVP in 2014 for leading the Spurs to the championship against the Big-3 and a Defensive Player of the Year in the following season.
In a regular-season game in January of 2016, while the Warriors were 41-4 in the season, the Spurs were on their own cruise of 38-7 record and were on a 13-game win streak. It was both teams’ best start in franchise history but the Spurs were without Tim Duncan.
In a matchup where the teams had the highest combined win percentage ever for opponents meeting at least 40 games into an NBA season, Curry just did not care that he was playing against one of the best teams in the league and was guarded by the best defender in the league. He made Kawhi touch the floor even without the ball in his hand.
While that is not any disrespect towards Leonard and just shows how active he was to guard a man that is probably the greatest off-the-ball mover in the game, it is just pure bliss to see that clip again and again.
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