Why Stephen Curry Faces More Pressure Than LeBron James in 2015 NBA Finals
There's enough tension to go around in the NBA Finals, but Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry faces a larger share than anyone.
Including Rust Belt savior LeBron James.
That's not to say LBJ's fifth consecutive visit to the championship round will be a pressure-free affair.
James is 30 now, and with that increased age comes the inevitable end of his prime. We haven't seen much to indicate his game is slipping yet, but it's going to happen. Encroaching NBA mortality has a way of imparting urgency in situations like this.
In addition, a loss to the Warriors would drop James' record in the Finals to 2-4.
The large, vocal contingent of detractors James' decade-plus of success has created would trumpet that underwhelming mark at high volume. Skeptics about the success of jump-shooting teams would likely launch into a chorus of "I told you so" if the Warriors were to fail in this final stage but not to the degree we'd see from the LeBron haters.
Golden State is new to contention, and to really build a base of haters, you've got to win for a while. James has done that, while the Warriors haven't yet.
Think of it this way: If the Cavaliers lose, we're going to see far more questions, think pieces and incessant, nausea-inducing talking-head features asking, What does this mean for LeBron's legacy? than we will if Curry and the Warriors come up short.
James has been around long enough to tune out noise like that, but he's also been around long enough to know the noise is coming.
At the same time, James has done well to mitigate pressure with word and deed.
When he returned to Cleveland, he told Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins: "I’m not promising a championship. I know how hard that is to deliver. We’re not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I’m realistic. It will be a long process, much longer than it was in 2010."
Because the Cavaliers have arrived ahead of schedule (according to James' clock anyway), it almost feels like this trip to the Finals is a freebie. Given the youth on Cleveland's roster, the likelihood of better health from key players in the future (the Cavs have made it this far with a banged-up Kyrie Irving and no Kevin Love), there's a good chance this team will be back to the Finals in short order.
Especially with the East looking weak for the foreseeable future.
More than anything, James' remarkable play in the postseason has made it obvious that any failure in the Finals can't rightfully be blamed on him. His postseason averages of 40.7 minutes, 27.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 8.3 assists have been exceeded by just one player, Oscar Robertson, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
| Oscar Robertson | 1963 | 12 | 31.8 | 13.0 | 9.0 |
| Oscar Robertson | 1962 | 4 | 28.8 | 11.0 | 11.0 |
| LeBron James | 2015 | 14 | 27.6 | 10.4 | 8.3 |
Not even Robertson sustained those averages over as many games in a single postseason as James has.
And since we know enough about the stat-inflating qualities of early-1960s NBA pace, you could make the argument that James is in the midst of the greatest individual postseason performance in league history.
So if Cleveland doesn't win a championship, James can simply smirk as he points to the fact that he put on the best statistical effort in a half-century while compensating for a thin roster riddled with injury.
It'd be absurd to pin a potential Cavaliers failure on a guy who put up insane numbers and dragged a rotation loaded with New York Knicks castoffs.
Besides, everyone has already made up his mind about James anyway.
Those who've decided he's a choker because of his current 2-3 mark in the Finals are, first of all, lunatics who ignore robust evidence of James' clutch reputation. And second, their opinions won't change if James goes 2-4.
Those who view him as the best player of his generation already recognize five straight Finals visits as an incredible achievement. To them, it won't really matter if James doesn't win this series, because he clearly reaffirmed his status as the world's best player in the process of getting there.
That means the real pressure is on Curry and the Warriors.
They're the favorites after all, which by definition means they're the team most expect to win.
They've got to finish off this charmed season the right way. The Warriors are the 14th team to win 65 regular-season games and advance to the Finals, and the first 13 all hoisted the trophy, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
If Golden State becomes the first team to break that streak, it would be a massive disappointment. An unprecedented, historically significant flop.
This is all team-related pressure, but it ties directly to Curry, the league's MVP and the Warriors' barometer of success. All season long, Golden State dominated with him on the court but got outscored when he sat, as noted by NBA.com.
To be fair to James, the Cavs depended on him to a ridiculous degree as well. According to NBA.com, Cleveland was outscored by 6.9 points per 100 possessions with LBJ on the pine.
The difference is that even with James on the court, the Cavs didn't reach the rarefied air to which Curry elevated the Warriors: Cleveland's plus-9.8 net rating with James pales in comparison to the Warriors' plus-17 with Curry.
If the Dubs are going to finish this remarkable season off appropriately, Curry will have to lead them to the finish. And if he can't, his MVP award and the Warriors' incredible success during the year will get big, fat asterisks.
Real pressure, the kind that makes players seize up in big moments, is about fear—fear that a legacy is in jeopardy (in James' case), or fear that a great achievement could be marginalized (in Curry's).
James has done enough in his career to make that fear irrelevant. His legacy is secure, regardless of what happens against the Warriors.
Golden State, though, is in the brutal West, where there's no promise of another chance at a season like this. It has enjoyed excellent health and all the best breaks. What the Warriors have built is sustainable, and they can keep a relatively young core together for a long time.
But there's just no guarantee they'll ever be this good again. If Curry and Co. blow this chance, they may never get another.
Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated explained how hard it is to be this dominant in consecutive seasons:
"But this is exactly why the pressure is on Curry more than we probably realize. It's highly unlikely that Golden State repeats its level of success next season. Of the seven previous teams to post a plus-10 point differential, only two repeated the feat the next season: the 1972 Bucks (led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and the 1997 Bulls (with Michael Jordan).
"
Curry and the Warriors have to capitalize, or their achievements this year could wind up being footnotes in James' history.
Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @gt_hughes.
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