Golden State Warriors MVP Stephen Curry discloses how he took pride in proving all the critics and doubters wrong at the start of the previous season.
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Stephen Curry was absolutely sensational last year. Calling his performance from the 2020-2021 season incredible would be an understatement. The Warriors leader put up a league-high 32 points while averaging 5.8 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game, on an efficient 48/42/91 shooting split.
Chef Curry got selected to his 7th All-Star game, 7th All-NBA team, was an MVP finalist, won his 2nd -ever scoring title, all while leading a rather inexperienced without the likes of Klay Thompson. Oh, and he managed to achieve all these incredible feats while playing a majority of the season on a broken tailbone.
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However, things weren’t as great for him initially, this past campaign. Before he dropped his career-high 62 points, The Baby-Faced Assassin was being subjected to a lot of criticism and analysts believed Curry would be “exposed”. And recently, on his appearance on the SiriusXM NBA Radio, Chef disclosed how he took pride in shutting all the noise up.
“I mean, there was a moment at the beginning of last year, before the Portland game and the 62 [points], that I heard a lot of noise and I heard a lot of talk about who I wasn’t and we were going to get exposed and I was going to get exposed and all that type of stuff. I definitely took pride in shutting all that up. But it’s also the realization that when you’re in the fight every year, in that chase to the mountain top and you’re trying to win championships, I might get it more than other people just because I wasn’t supposed to be here.”
“I reminded everyone what I was capable of”: Stephen Curry
It didn’t take Curry long before he left a mark last season. Even though his Warriors had a subpar 39-33 record, failing to make it to the postseason after getting knocked out of the play-in tournament, Curry had a very successful individual season. And rightly, proved all his naysayers wrong.
The 6-foot-3 guard further explained the narrative he approached last season with, and how he’ll be using that confidence this upcoming season too.
“But I don’t think you’re ever going to get that love like that until it’s all said and done. So it doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t matter what the narrative is. I definitely did appreciate that I played extremely well and reminded everyone what I was capable of. And I’m carrying that confidence into this year. It’s kind of how I’ve approached everything. It starts with me and the internal battle. You can get some fuel from other places when it’s necessary. But it’s always just staying in the present.”
“The last part is that I found fun again, in terms of just playing basketball at the highest level. Sometimes you can put a little too much pressure on yourself and feel like you have to keep proving something. But at the end of the day, that’s why, I think last year at the All-Star Game, I said I had nothing to prove, but a lot left to accomplish. And I truly live by that.”
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With the team’s morale back up high after 2019’s debacle, and Klay Thompson returning to the roster again this year, Steph’s GSW should be looking like a much more deadly side than last year.
