Will Steph Curry's MVP Case Lose Its Shine as Warriors Begin to Rest?
Stephen Curry might have the best supporting cast and definitely has the most team success of any player in the NBA MVP race.
But he is lacking something every other candidate has—meaningful games left on the schedule.
The only thing his Golden State Warriors are chasing at this point is their own standard. The jam-packed Western Conference has been unable to put a team closer than 7.5 games behind the Dubs. With only 15 contests remaining on Golden State's docket, it would take a monumental collapse for it to forfeit the top seed.
And as Wednesday's Klay Thompson-less 114-95 thrashing of the Atlanta Hawks—the team with the NBA's second-best record—hinted at, the Warriors might be incapable of slipping.
"What I take away from it is the number of players who made an impact," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said afterward, per Janie McCauley of The Associated Press.
In other words, there's some substance behind that "deepest team in the league" label.
Golden State needed someone to fill Thompson's shoes as the second scorer. Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green all accepted the challenge, combining for 64 points on 26-of-36 shooting (72.2 percent).
Curry, by the way, didn't go ballistic in the beatdown. He finished with only 16 points on 4-of-11 shooting and diluted some of his game-high 12 assists with four turnovers.
None of that mattered, of course, given the strong play of his teammates. But that's kind of the point here.
The Warriors don't need a super-spicy Curry to survive the stretch run. Given how little is left at stake, Golden State could soon decide it doesn't need Curry at all to get through the regular season.
Kerr has already come to that unpopular-but-reasonable decision once, sitting his star floor general, along with Thompson, Iguodala and Andrew Bogut, for the team's March 13 road tilt with the Denver Nuggets. As much as it may pain fans to hear this, the coach isn't going to take that card out of his hand.
"As coaches we have to do what's best to prepare our teams for a really long year," Kerr said, per The Associated Press (via ESPN.com).
Even when Kerr plays his top guns, he keeps them on a shorter leash. Curry's minutes have steadily declined these past few months, and he's had to sacrifice some—albeit not a ton—of his volume statistics as a result.
Those splits could become even more dramatic over these final weeks.
The Dubs have nearly exhausted their supply of motivation. Even finishing with a better record than the Hawks—who, by the way, have also dabbled in this art of playoff preparation—would only hold relevance if both teams emerged from their respective conference's playoff bracket.
Outside of satisfying superstar-craving fans, good luck finding reasons for Golden State to bring out its best before playoff time.
"The Golden State Warriors' regular season is over," wrote ESPN.com's Ethan Sherwood Strauss. "The Warriors aren't playing for wins anymore. ... Welcome to the stretch of DNP-Whatever."
It might be an agonizing period for Curry. After his last day off, he didn't exactly give the process a ringing endorsement.
"There's games you might not feel as chipper as others, but when you're out there playing, I don't think I ever kind of feel fatigued to the point where I'm like, 'Dang, I need some rest,'" Curry said, per Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group.
But the point guard has to know his team is playing for something far greater than regular-season success. And he understands the physical demands of playing this style of basketball, as the Dubs lead the NBA in both pace and defensive efficiency.
"We play uptempo on the offensive end, run a lot of ball movement, player movement, sets. You have to really give out a lot of energy to get into the ball on pick-and-rolls and rotate, have multiple efforts. ... 32 minutes a game still feels like 40" Curry told USA Today's Sam Amick earlier this season.
The Warriors can't ask Curry to carry that type of load when so many players are capable of taking it off of his shoulders. And, as Kerr has made clear, he won't.
However, that demand will be made of several of Curry's closest MVP competitors.
In fact, Russell Westbrook wouldn't be in this race had he not turned Oklahoma City Thunder games into his personal one-man shows. James Harden's loudest argument comes from the fact that he's kept the Houston Rockets afloat without superstar sidekick Dwight Howard. And soaring star Anthony Davis is the only reason the New Orleans Pelicans' puncher's chance at the playoffs has knockout potential.
Their minutes are all headed in the opposite direction of Curry's, and, in most cases, their counting categories have followed suit.
| Curry | Pre-All-Star Break | 33.2 | 23.6 | 7.9 | 8.0 |
| Curry | Post-All-Star Break | 32.1 | 22.7 | 8.0 | 3.2 |
| Davis | Pre-All-Star Break | 35.8 | 24.5 | 1.7 | 10.3 |
| Davis | Post-All-Star Break | 36.9 | 24.9 | 3.1 | 10.7 |
| Harden | Pre-All-Star Break | 36.6 | 27.4 | 6.8 | 5.7 |
| Harden | Post-All-Star Break | 37.3 | 24.2 | 8.1 | 6.2 |
| Westbrook | Pre-All-Star Break | 32.7 | 25.8 | 7.6 | 6.3 |
| Westbrook | Post-All-Star Break | 36.9 | 32.7 | 10.7 | 9.6 |
LeBron James is the only player in this race taking a path similar to Curry's. The four-time MVP has averaged about two fewer minutes since the All-Star break, though his scoring has almost held steady (25.4 points from 25.9), and both his assists (7.6 from 7.3) and rebounds (6.0 from 5.6) have improved.
The top narratives for Curry's competition are still being written. His is already set in stone.
He has the "best player on the best team" argument in his back pocket. In fact, both Chris Ballard and Phil Taylor of Sports Illustrated used that exact phrase when explaining why Curry would get their MVP vote.
That isn't going to change. As Curry told Bleacher Report's Adam Lefkoe in the video below, what he's done to date speaks for itself.
But you still have to wonder if the Curry-for-MVP camp is deep enough now to keep his rivals at bay. Because it's hard to imagine the floor general moving any voters to that side of the discussion by sitting games out or seeing less action when he does suit up.
Maybe Curry already has all the support he needs. But if he doesn't, this race could get very interesting down the stretch.
Would voters be swayed by Davis or Westbrook leading their respective undermanned squads to the postseason? Or Harden using his offensive wizardry to help a defensive-minded Houston team secure a top-three seed out West? Or King James continuing to cement his place among NBA royalty?
Those answers can only come with time. But Curry has to hope those conclusions will be reached sooner rather than later.
In the context of this regular season, his most prolific days are behind him.
He's about to enter cruise control, despite having four supercharged cars bearing down on his bumper. The only thing that can bring him the checkered flag now is the lead he built when the schedule held some importance for the Warriors.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
