MVP Stephen Curry is ‘way up’ but aiming higher for Golden State Warriors

Warriors star Stephen Curry, with his daughter Riley, star of postgame news conferences, after finishing off the Houston Rockets to advance to the NBA Finals. (Monica M. Davey/Corbis/European Pressphoto Agency)

Stephen Curry tried to keep his daughter Riley under control at the podium on Wednesday night after leading the Golden State Warriors to the NBA Finals for the first time in 40 years. Curry moved her from one side of his lap to the other, holding her tightly by the waist, but Riley, 2, continued to fidget, yawn, wave and shout. Finally, she spotted the microphone and started to sing the hook of a popular song by rappers Big Sean, Drake and Kanye West, “Blessings.”
“Waaaaay up, I feel blessed,” Riley shouted.
“You wanted to say that,” Stephen Curry said, looking down at her, with a laugh.
Riley continued to lunge toward the microphone to repeat the words as her father held back laughter and attempted to listen to questions: “Way up, I feel blessed.”
Based on Riley’s knowledge of the song, there’s a decent chance that it has been played many times in the household or in the car rides to the arena. And it probably is reflective of the mood as Stephen Curry gets ready to take on LeBron James and tries to end the lengthy championship drought for the dedicated Warriors fans.

[James, back in the Finals with Cleveland, has ‘unfinished business’] 

Curry and the Warriors are way up — Western Conference champions after their series-clinching 104-90 win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday — but not in a place that they didn’t expect.
Before the start of a season that ended with him winning the most valuable player award, Curry said Golden State planned to prove that it is the best in the Western Conference. The statement that was largely ignored since so much was expected of Oklahoma City, the defending champion San Antonio Spurs and even the Los Angeles Clippers, the team that beat the Warriors in seven games in the first round last postseason.
But the Warriors not only ran away with the NBA’s superior conference with 67 wins in the regular season, they needed just 15 games to breeze through New Orleans, Memphis and Houston in the West playoffs. Now Curry has a chance to become the first player to defeat all four other members of the all-NBA first team in the postseason, having already knocked off Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol and James Harden. James — a four-time regular season MVP and two-time Finals MVP — is different from those other three, because he already has what Curry wants.

 

Curry holds up the trophy for winning the Western Confernece title after beating the Rockets on Wednesday. (Monica M. Davey/Corbis/EPA)

“Yeah, he’s been here plenty of times before, five straight Finals appearances, I think, so we’ve got to bring our A-game if we’re going to beat a great team and a great player like that four times,” Curry told reporters in Oakland after the Game 5 win over the Rockets. “We’re excited about the challenge. He had to win his first one at some point, and nobody on our team has experienced that, so we’re going to be fighting like crazy every night. We’ve got home-court advantage that we need to capitalize on, and it’s going to be a battle and it’s going to be fun.”
The Warriors were one of the few teams to get through the regular season without sustaining any major injuries, but the postseason has presented a few challenges. Reserve big man Marreese Speights missed the conference finals and most of the previous round with a calf strain. All-star guard Klay Thompson suffered a concussion Wednesday when he leaned into a soaring Trevor Ariza and absorbed a knee to the head. Thompson, who was bleeding from his ear and needed stitches after the procedure, will need to pass concussion protocol procedures to be cleared for the Finals.
Curry had his own health scare in Game 4 against Houston when he landed awkwardly while trying to contest an Ariza layup attempt and dinged his head and elbow. After making a controversial return in the second half, Curry showed up for Wednesday’s series clincher wearing a bright yellow protective sleeve on his shooting arm, though he eventually ditched it. Curry didn’t shoot well – he missed 14 of 21 attempts – but finished the game with 26 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals.
“We’re very resilient and there are obviously story lines all throughout the playoffs and things that you have to get to to win a championship, and everybody has got to be locked in. Everybody has got to be determined that whatever comes our way, we’ve got to be able to fight through it,” Curry said. “There are little story lines that you can find throughout each series, each game, that are pretty special moments that you need to win a championship.”
Curry’s incredible rise from the seventh overall draft pick six years ago, known for his shooting ability and because his father Dell played in the NBA, matches the improbable progression of a team that is in the playoffs for the third straight season after making the postseason three times in the previous 20 seasons.
Curry has fulfilled the promise he made to fans as a rookie on struggling team. After an early-season loss in November 2009, Curry went to his Twitter account and wrote, “Promise to all the Warrior fans…we will figure this thing out…if it’s the last thing we do we will figure it out.” With Golden State set to host Game 1 of the Finals on Thursday, a once-foundering organization has found its way.
“I’m pretty proud of everybody that’s a part of this journey, and it’s going to be a special journey to ride these next two weeks, two or three weeks, to finish off the job,” Curry said. “Six years is a long time to wait. Obviously, the Bay Area has been waiting 40-plus years. I think it’s time.”
Though MVPs have gone 22-8 in the NBA Finals and the Warriors are considered the favorites over the Cavaliers, the presence of James won’t allow Curry to get past seeing himself as the underdog. Curry might be way up now, but continues to aim higher.

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