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PORTLAND, Oregon – There is no prize for the most useful player of the conference finals. If there was a good chance, Draymond Green would have won for his game against the Golden State Warriors when sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers.
His defense was just sensational. His style of play was at the highest level that he may have ever seen, with an average double triple at 16.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists. He ran the ground like a leader. And he managed the overtime win in Game 4, a clutch pointer in the 119-117 win that won the Western Conference finals.
Most PPGs in a 4-part sweep (history of the NBA playoffs)
| SERIES | PLAYER | PPG |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 Conf. finals | Stephen Curry | 36.5 |
| 2002 NBA Finals | Shaquille O 'neal | 36.3 |
| 2017 Conf. semi final | James Lebron | 36.0 |
| 2001 Conf. semi final | Kobe Bryant | 35.0 |
| 1974 Conf. finals | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 34.8 |
| 2018 Conf. semi final | James Lebron | 34.0 |
Players and coaches from both sides, as well as the large media contingent, praised Green for days. After calling it a "wrecking ball" after an impressive match 3, Warrior head coach Steve Kerr was invited to come up with an even better metaphor for Green the next day. He apologized that he could not.
But in all fairness, Green was not the best player in the series.
This sweep was a true masterpiece for Stephen Curry. Maybe the stakes were not high enough, nor was the opponent tough enough to qualify for the best playoff series for him to qualify. In fact, forget that it was the best series of his career.
Curry has never dominated a series like he has done in the last four games, which has been a difficult time, while Kevin Durant was out and Andre Iguodala was braked and dismissed. In fact, call the best 4.5 Curry playoff games when you include the second period of 33 points to close the Houston Rockets in game 6 of the previous round.
He has repeated many times over the past week that it was a special time because he was playing against his brother Seth in this series. But it's going to be a special memory because of his dominance.
With 37 points on Monday, Curry finished the series with an average of 36.5 points, a career high. This is the highest number of points accumulated by a player in four matches in league history. The 26 points to 3 points he made are another NBA record for the first four games of a series, some of which are just ridiculous, like the long-range missile he made at the end of the first half of Monday that broke the momentum of the Blazers.
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Steph Curry shares some of the best moments he shared with Seth in the final phase of the Western Conference.
The statistics could go on and on, but let's pause for a moment. Nobody has panicked about the greatness of Curry these past four games. There was intense praise for Green, a universal recognition for the Warriors role players and an ode to interference in the Golden State championships. Completely legitimate.
But Curry's triple-double in Game 4 (13 rebounds and 11 assists) threatened to be relegated to a footnote. The same goes for the fact that he played all the second half and overtime. The fact that he did all this with a finger injury – he dislocated the middle finger in the second game against Houston – was swept away.
It's because Curry has reached one of the highest levels a player can: He's awesome.
Michael Jordan did that. LeBron James did that. Tim Duncan did that. Curry is expected to succeed when it does, there will be no commendable success.
Yes, just another good game for Curry. Oh, by the way: he had not lost mind for a second and traveled needlessly before hitting 3 points by the end of the fourth quarter, he would have pioneered himself up to ############################################################################### 39 to a triple ultra-rare 40-point double in a closing game of the road in the finals of the conference.
"We still do not take anything for granted," Curry said. "We understand how difficult it is to finish at this level, we do not want to finish as long as we can control it."
This is a good tip. Curry's play since Durant's injury – he had 12 points in the fourth quarter of the fifth game against the Rockets after Durant had the guts to stop this crucial victory – should not be taken for granted.
"I can not say enough about the competitive desire of the group of players we have here and the culture that they have built together," Kerr said. "The absence of Kevin in these last five games has put us in a really difficult position and our guys have made a leap forward."
A group of guys are for sure. But one in particular deserves a special opinion.
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