Kevin Love and Steph Curry Have Very Different Recollections Of The Last Play of The 2016 NBA Finals

So Jackie MacMullan wrote a five million word piece about how elite NBA athletes handle pressure (like that’s real pressure), and I’ll be honest, I didn’t read any of it. But I did see a snippet from Steph Curry about the last play of the 2016 NBA Finals. You know, the one where Kevin Love rose to the occasion and locked down the unanimous MVP in the most crucial part of the game. For those of you that don’t remember it like it was yesterday, here is the play in question:

That is absolutely game-saving lockdown defense from a 6’10 Power Forward, guarding one of the best offensive players in the league. There’s no other way to spin it. Kevin Love got switched onto Curry, and he played the best on-ball defense of his entire life. People praised and continue to praise Kevin for a championship level effort on the game’s biggest possession. Everyone realizes what happened, except apparently Steph….

“I look back and think I could have easily gone around [Love] and gotten a 2, and we could have gotten a stop, and then I could come back down and hit another shot, and we win another championship, instead of me going for the hero shot, which I felt like I could make. That was a shot where I was not under control. And it cost us a championship.”

Could have easily gone around Love? Easily? That’s a pretty bold claim, seeing what happened. Especially seeing that the Cavs won the title. To say that you would have easily gotten a two, and then come back down and hit another shot to win it, well that’s a loser’s claim. Kevin Love agrees.

Listen, Steph, the only thing that was easy in the NBA (prior to KD going to Golden State) was the Cavs walking through the East for each of the last four years. The Raptors were literally a worn down speed bump on the way to the Finals, and now they’re giving you trouble? How about we focus a little less on ridiculous claims and a little more on Toronto. But I can tell you this: if Kyrie Irving wasn’t a douche and LeBron wasn’t a 2x Benedict Arnold, the Cavs would be in the Finals right now. Easily. And with Durant out….? Well, we all saw what happened the last time we played with the original Warriors Big 3 and the Cavs Big 3. We won the championship……easily.