I appreciate your optimism, but the refs didn't even see Draymond pick up and BODY SLAM Beasley until they saw it on video. And the body check you describe is actually a much more nuanced play than that, even if the refs see it. Look at the bs that Varejao pulls on every single possession. There's a lot more contact on every single one of his actions than the clips you pointed out on Curry, and yet in most of those cases it's the correct call not to have a foul on either Varejao or his man. I get it. You're unhappy that Curry didn't have more calls go his way. But the greatest players transcend the way the game is called. Players like Jordan, Hakeem, and yes Lebron, have been able to dominate even with teams using every dirty trick in the book on them. This series was the test of whether Curry could handle that, too.
Shaq is one of the best ball handling bigs to ever play the game. Some people like to revise history to say he was an unskilled player who relied entirely on his size and athleticism which is false. He had a plethora of skills, he just couldn't shoot a jump shot.
Incorrect. Green's body slam happened during an inbounds play where everyone was scrambling around. That means that one ref was timing the inbounds play while the other two were trying to keep track of the other 8 scrambling players. With all that activity, it's understandable that 2 refs missed the body slam. On Love's body check, Curry was dribbling the ball in the open court 25 feet from the basket. It's inexcusable for all 3 refs to miss such an obvious call. You'd think that at least one of them would be watching the ball-handler.
Doing that would destroy the Warriors offense, if you called the illegal screens they set, which are clearly obvious fouls. And to answer your question, there is crow for you to eat because you said physical play wouldn't stop Curry. The type of play he got in the Finals was typical play prior to rule changes. All season the narrative from some detractors was "he's great but these rules really help him out". You had responses like "the rules wouldn't matter as he can pull up from 35...he'd kill any rules and any defender...greatest offensive player ever". Yeah, plenty of crow to eat. Edit: You also said that he wasn't a defensive liability and versatility in your game didn't matter.
Or when you're just unable to play when the refs allow some physical play. This is two years in a row that Curry has underperformed in the Finals.
You're not making your position clear. There would be "crow" to eat because he clearly does not perform at that standard when teams are allowed to be more physical. You're acting like Curry was the only one that the refs allowed opposing players to be physical on. It's the playoffs, it's always physical. Against everybody. He got outplayed, plain and simple. He's not the best.
LMAO can you imagine the crucifying that guys like Lebron/Harden/Westbrook/etc. would get if every time they sucked they just said they were hurt?
Yet in game 6 of the finals, Curry fouled out. His last two fouls had minimal, incidental contact. Why is it that he's not allowed to be physical against the Cavs yet they're allowed to be physical against him? In game 7, here was Curry's crucial 3rd foul in the 2nd quarter: https://twitter.com/Complex_Sports/status/744698887009669120 How could that possibly be a foul on Curry? Meanwhile, why is it that Irving was allowed to use his forearm to push off his defender, and the foul would go against the defender?
That depends on whether these other players suffered actual on the court major visible injuries like what Curry suffered with the ankle and later MCL sprain, having to be off the court for weeks and then coming back in the bare minimum of time medical experts say is needed. If any of the other players suffered a serious, potentially season ending injury like that then surely any loss in performance would factor in by most objective people whether it is Curry, Lebron, Harden, Westbrook, etc. Your view may differ.
Not true at all- you aren't even trying to be objective. 5th foul- He reached across Kyrie's body making contact with his shoulder and also made contact with his body. 6th foul- go back and look at the replay, Curry fouls Lebron several times on his last foul. He makes clear contact with Lebron on his arm before the whistle and then fouls him again to pick up his 6th. Not sure what Curry was thinking trying to reach and foul 90+ feet from the basket when he's in foul trouble. Quit blaming the refs Warrior fans! Your team gets away with moving screens almost every possesion. Give credit where credit is due- congrats to the 2016 NBA Champions Cleveland Cavaliers:grin:
That one foul you posted was questionable, and in game 6, the only one that debatably wasn't a foul was the reach on Irving. Everyone has bad fouls called on them once in awhile. He clearly got outplayed. There is no conspiracy against him.
This is too damn hard - if they win, it's their greatness; if they lose, it's a rigged league, refs suck, media biased, opposing teams foul, and global warming.
After watching the replay, JVG said it was a clean steal. Feel free to watch the replay. Actually, Curry only fouled Lebron once on that play. It was a clean strip, but when Lebron regained possession of the ball, Curry touched Lebron's forearm. Technically, that's a foul, but there was minimal contact, and it didn't affect the play. For the refs to allow such a physical style of play throughout the series and then call such a nitpicky 6th foul on Curry is puzzling. Afterwards, Lebron tried to push the ball and landed on Curry. How can that possibly be a foul on Curry? At that point, Curry's back was to the play. Had Lebron not flopped to the floor afterwards, I don't think the refs would've called anything. If you watch the replay, you'll see that the whistle didn't blow until Lebron took 3 steps and stumbled to the ground.
No one is saying that he was too hurt to be completely ineffective. But it is very possible that he was hurt enough to not be able to play to MVP form and could only play at a lesser form.
