The Golden State Warriors’ historic collapse in the 2016 NBA Finals continues to gnaw at Stephen Curry’s soul, and the League’s back-to-back MVP says he’ll use that pain as motivation for the upcoming season.
Curry, who was dealing with multiple injuries during the Playoffs, missed 13 of 19 shot attempts (including an atrocious 4/14 clip from beyond the three-point arc) in the fateful Game 7.
Steph Curry to @USATODAYsports on how he handled the Game 7 nightmare… https://t.co/iou1xWMSWK pic.twitter.com/C8GGRENDpX
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) September 21, 2016
Curry and the Dubs are prepared for a reboot in 2016-17.
Per USA Today:
“Starting with that night (of Game 7), it kind of was like a surreal feeling at home, kind of like, ‘What just happened?’ because we were so confident we could get it done,” Curry said. “Human nature kind of took in, where I was a little down — kind of naturally. But I was able to kind of just get away, go on vacation with the family (in Hawaii), get in front of the next generation at a couple (basketball) camps, still be around the game but not be depressed at all and understand we’re playing for the Finals and hopefully get another chance at it next year.”
“We were deemed the latest and greatest, the untouchable team,” said Curry, who posted career highs in scoring (a league-leading 30.1 points per game), three pointers (402), rebounds (5.4 per game) and steals (2.1 per game) during the Warriors’ 73-win regular season. “We didn’t have that mentality. We had that confidence that we could win every game, but it wasn’t like we could be invincible and just show up and win. (Losing) just reminds you that to win a championship, it takes a lot of good bounces. It takes just a lot of mental and physical focus and endurance. But it’s not guaranteed, so that was all it reminded me (of). It made me appreciate the year before, and hopefully made me appreciate the next journey.”
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