Draymond Green pushed the ball ever so slightly out in front with his left hand, knowing Stephen Curry was trailing to the left side of the arc.
Curry, in the hunt for his first Finals MVP and fourth championship ring, was right there to meet the ball after its first bounce. He stopped and set his feet on the NBA Finals logo just a few feet within the halfcourt line for a triple, pulling up 29 feet away from the basket.
As he lifted the ball above the right side of his head in preparation for a smooth release, Robert Williams III — perhaps the league’s best shot-blocker — lunged with his left arm extended. Tagging along to add pressure on the shot was Marcus Smart, the league’s current Defensive Player of the Year.
It didn’t matter.
The Celtics could’ve thrown a literal kitchen sink at Curry, and it wouldn’t have mattered.
That shot, which caught back iron and dropped without even moving the net, was a microcosm of the whole 2022 NBA Finals. The 2022 NBA Finals were a microcosm of Steph Curry’s career. His career, by itself, has changed the game of basketball forever.
Many of the game’s legends took advantage of skill surpluses that mail men masquerading as basketball players couldn’t comprehend. Many of the game’s legends took advantage of freakish size that other humans of their time simply didn’t possess. The modern star overwhelms with a combination of both. The game is now powered by 6-foot-9 point forwards and centers sniping from the perimeter after dusting the opposition with guard-like footwork.
But, not Steph Curry. That was never going to be him. He was never going to bend the game to his will by imposing a combination of size and skill. He was never going to overwhelm anyone with vertical athleticism or brute physicality as he bullied his way through multiple defenders for difficult finishes at the rim.
What he has done is more incredible than anything any of the greats before him did. He bent the game by defying probability.
Curry built a trophy case on making shots that were statistically improbable to make. No, he didn’t just cash in on the occasional prayer or heat check. He decided that his great magic trick, the thing that was going to give him staying power in the NBA, was routinely making shots that no one else in the world could. Heck, his nightly diet consists of shots that most All-Stars wouldn’t even dare taking.
Curry didn’t dare to be different from the pack; he knew he had to be different to have a chance at achieving the things he had only before attained when he closed his eyes at night.
And perhaps that’s why he’s held with so much affinity by the level-headed consumer.
Because as slight in stature and unimpressive in intangible gifts as he is, Curry has cemented himself in the pantheon of basketball’s all-time greats by being great at the improbable; by being the greatest ever at the one basketball skill that is inclusive of all who step on the court.
And Curry did it while simultaneously signing every autograph, taking every picture, treating every person he interacted with in the same manner, and appreciating the opportunities his efforts afforded him.
