Passion and points: Stephen Curry gives Warriors everything they need in Game 4

By Dan FeldmanJun 11, 2022, 2:12 AM EDT

BOSTON – Stephen Curry hatched a plan to show more fire and set a tone in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Draymond Green sensed a change in Curry’s demeanor immediately after the Warriors’ Game 3 loss Wednesday. After two days of stewing…

Curry missed four of his first five shots, including all three 3-pointers. Some of them badly.

But after hitting back-to-back 3s late in the third quarter, Curry seized the opportunity. As the Celtics called timeout, he took off to the opposite end of the court, yelling and pointing:

STEPH IS FIRED UP 🔥 pic.twitter.com/MsnpUV7kzm

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) June 11, 2022

Green got the message.

“He wasn’t letting us lose,” Green said. “That’s what it boils down to.”

Curry scored 43 points to lead Golden State to a 107-97 victory Friday. His best performance in an NBA Finals that already included a few gems puts him in even stronger position to claim the honor that has most infamously eluded him.

Since Jerry West won the first NBA Finals MVP on the losing Lakers in 1969, everyone to average 32 points per game in the first four games of a Finals has won Finals MVP or lost the series.

Curry is averaging 34.25 points per game against Boston, among the most every through the first four games of an NBA Finals:

Curry is shooting well. He went 7-for-14 on 3-pointers, 7-of-12 on 2-pointers and 8-of-9 on free throws Friday.

But his volume really stands out.

Curry’s usage percentage in the Finals (33.6) is higher than anyone’s in the last dozen years save LeBron James in 2015, when he did so much to carry the Cavaliers with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love injured. Curry’s usage even tops LeBron in 2016, another year he really put Cleveland on his back.

Somewhat paradoxically, Boston’s elite defense makes Curry even more aggressive. With no weak links and several outstanding defenders, the Celtics can shut down Golden State’s more-intricate actions in the halfcourt that spread around the ball. That leaves it on the Warriors just to create for themselves, and who better to do that than Curry?

Golden State no longer has Kevin Durant. Klay Thompson isn’t the same after his injuries. Though many are too quick to forget, Green used to help far more offensively.

Now, so much falls on Curry.

Who, not for nothing, was playing through a foot injury.

“The heart on that man is,” Thompson said shaking his head, “incredible.

“Wow!”

Not only did Curry have such a high offensive output, he chipped in 10 rebounds. He also continued to set a spirited tone with multiple demonstrative celebrations and one two-footed stomping reaction after referees again didn’t call a foul as he drew contact on a jumper.

Curry has scored more in a Finals game once before. He had 47 points in Game 3 against the Raptors in 2019. Golden State of course lost that series.

After all these years of debating Curry’s play in this last round and especially his lack of Finals MVPs, he’s having his best Finals performance in another series the Warriors might lose. The teams are tied 2-2 entering Game 5 Monday in San Francisco.

It’s too early to say what this game, what these Finals will mean for Curry’s legacy. Fairly or not, Golden State almost definitely must win for Curry to claim Finals MVP. The bar for even getting remembered positively in a Finals loss is LeBron-esque.

But on a night the Warriors needed him more than ever – as a scorer, as an energizer – Curry came through.

Nowitzki, Wade, Gasol, Popovich reportedly headline Hall of Fame class

By Kurt HelinMar 28, 2023, 11:21 PM EDT

It will not become official until Saturday, but this is shaping up to be a legendary Hall of Fame class.

Dwyane Wade. Dirk Nowitzki. Gregg Popovich. Pau Gasol. Tony Parker. Becky Hammon. They are all in, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

ESPN Sources: Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Becky Hammon and Gregg Popovich are among the finalists who’ve been elected into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2023. Formal announcement will come at Final Four in Houston this weekend.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 29, 2023

This is a deep class, and there was no question about any of those players’ Hall of Fame credentials.

Wade is one of the (arguably THE) greatest shooting guard in the history of the game, winning three rings as a member of the Miami Heat, plus making eight All-NBA teams and 13 trips to the All-Star game. Nowitzki is the greatest Maverick ever and the greatest European player in NBA history, an NBA champion and Finals MVP, plus he won the regular season MVP in 2007.

Popovich, the legendary coach of the five-time champion San Antonio Spurs — a team that won 50+ games 18-straight seasons with him at the helm, plus he coached Team USA to the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Parker was the point guard for much of that Spurs run, is a four-time NBA champion and was Finals MVP in 2007. Gasol is a two-time NBA champion, four-time All-NBA,and led Spain to the FIBA World Championship in 2006 and won three Olympic medals.

The Hall of Fame class will officially be announced on Saturday.

Draymond Green is good with facing Kings in first round — because of the travel

By Kurt HelinMar 28, 2023, 6:28 PM EDT

If the NBA playoffs started today, the Golden State Warriors would be in the play-in and host the Pelicans in the 7/8 game. Win that and they would hop on a more than three-hour flight to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies.

Draymond Green said on his podcast he is hoping the Warriors finish as the No.6 seed and dodge the play-in, then face the Kings to open the playoffs (which is how the standings stood 24 hours ago). Why? It’s a 90-mile drive to Sacramento.

.@Money23Green wants Sacramento in the playoffs but not for the reason you think pic.twitter.com/cBtVFSuRWH

— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) March 27, 2023

“The reason why I said Sac is simply just because of the travel. That’s a lot on your body. If we can bus ride an hour and 10 minutes up the way, I just think that’s much better for us. At the end of the day, I don’t really care who we play in the playoffs, I think we can win.”

Green is not wrong about the travel.

While some teams may have looked at the top four in the West (Nuggets, Grizzlies, Kings, and Suns) and seen Sacramento as the obvious target, that plan could backfire. The Kings’ offense is diverse and elite, and they have the Clutch Player of the Year in De'Aaron Fox, and their building will be rocking like no other after the franchise has not been in the playoffs since 2006. In a West filled with flawed teams, the Kings winning a couple of rounds is well within the realm of possibility.

This could be the first year since the Kings moved to Sacramento that all four California teams make the playoffs (it is likely that all four at least make the play-in). The Kings are all but locked in to be the No.3 seed, while the Warriors, Lakers and Clippers are in the crowded field at the bottom of the playoff bracket where three games separate the No.5 and 11 seeds.

Bradley Beal reportedly under investigation after confrontation with fan who lost gambling

By Kurt HelinMar 28, 2023, 1:45 PM EDT

Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images

On March 21, Bradley Beal had an off game — 16 points on 4-of-15 shooting — as the Wizards fell to the Magic in Orlando.

Walking off the court, Beal got into a confrontation with a couple of fans, one of whom blamed him for a gambling loss. The next day that incident became a complaint filed with the Orlando Police Department by the fan. David Purdum of ESPN summarized the police report this way:

Beal and the Wizards were exiting the court and in the visitors’ tunnel, headed to the locker room, when, according to the police report, an unidentified man remarked to Beal, “You made me lose $1,300, you f***.”

Beal, according to the report, turned around and walked toward a friend of the man who made the comment and swatted his right hand toward him, knocking the man’s hat off and contacting the left side of his head.

Police reviewed video footage of the altercation and heard Beal say this is his job and he takes it seriously, and the man is heard apologizing, implying he did not intend to offend him, according to the report.

At this point, no charges have been filed against Beal. According to TMZ, Beal told the heckler, “Keep it a buck. I don’t give a f*** about none of your bets or your parlays, bro. That ain’t why I play the game.” The entire incident lasted less than a minute.

NBA spokesman Mike Bass said, “We are aware of the report and are in the process of gathering more information.”

Sports betting is not currently legal in the state of Florida.

While there is nothing official from the team, speculation abounds that the Wizards have shut down Beal and Kyle Kuzma for the season.

Trail Blazers shut down Lillard for season… and here comes the trade speculation

By Kurt HelinMar 28, 2023, 12:48 PM EDT

While it was unofficial but understood for some time, now it is official: Damian Lillard has been shut down for the season. Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report (who has close ties to the Lillard camp) Tweeted out the news.

With injury-plagued Portland Trail Blazers out of the playoff picture, superstar guard Damian Lillard will be held out the remainder of the season, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 28, 2023

The Blazers are five games out of the final play-in spot with seven games to play, they aren’t making up that ground. They are tied for the fifth-worst record in the league, which comes with a 10.5% chance at the top pick and Victor Wembanyama. This was the right play.

Before it became official, Shams Charania at The Athletic wrote in “The Bounce” newsletter Monday that Lillard is “essentially” shut down for the season – and then lit a fire under the topic that makes Trail Blazers’ fans’ eyes roll:

Damian Lillard trade talk.

On the other side of things, you now have to wonder if Lillard ever steps on the court again for Portland. There was a ton of optimism going into this season after the team landed Jerami Grant and got off to a good start to the campaign. Now, not making the playoffs for a second year in a row, a soon-to-be 33-year-old star of this league who has never gotten a chance to win it all will have tons of questions to ask the front office this offseason, and I expect there to be serious conversations about what’s next for both sides.

We all knew the Lillard trade speculation was coming. Same with Bradley Beal in Washington. The same core rule applies to both of them:

Lillard will not get traded unless he asks to be moved. He has never done so, in fact saying just weeks ago about playing the rest of his career in Portland, “To that point, I’m also willing to die on that hill.” Portland has been loyal to him and Lillard signed a massive contract extension last offseason and has four years, $216.2 million left on that deal, including about $63.2 million in the contract’s final season when he is 36. He’s happy where he is and has deep roots in the community.

The odds are better than not that Lillard will retire a Trail Blazer, even if that’s not the path other stars would walk. Lillard is wired differently.

Can you construct an argument that the Trail Blazers should trade Lillard while his value is sky-high — he will be an All-NBA player again this season — because the organization’s best path to a ring is with whoever and whatever’s next? Maybe. However, that ignores the financial reality of the Blazers — Lillard brings the fans in the door, brings in team sponsors who want to be associated with him, and he sells jerseys. Lillard is good business for Portland, there is no incentive for ownership to move on right now.

In fact, it may be the opposite. Portland can throw multiple picks and good young players such as Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons into a trade to bring in another star to play with Lillard. That is more how their front office pictures this summer — they want to go all in on building around Lillard. Not sending him away.

Other teams covet Lillard, and trade packages can be constructed (would Miami be willing to move on from Bam Adebayo for the chance to pair Lillard with Jimmy Butler?). But it’s all idle talk until Lillard sits down with franchise ownership/management and says it’s time for him to move on. That has yet to happen. It may well never happen.

Just expect the avalanche of Lillard speculation to begin. Warranted or not.

More on the Warriors

Check out more on the Mavericks

Check out more on the Warriors

Check out more on the Wizards

Check out more on the Trail Blazers