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*Photo via Getty Images
It is official Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors is the 2014-15 NBA MVP. This year’s MVP race was discussed heavily as one of the closest in NBA history, but according to the people with actual votes, it wasn’t that close. Curry won the award with 100 of the 130 first place votes with James Harden getting 25 votes and Lebron James receiving five votes. Many people speculated that Harden, who finished second in scoring and led the Rockets to the second seed in the West, primarily without Dwight Howard was going to edge out Curry, but in the end it is Curry with the honors.
The lopsided results indicate that the voters took the fact Curry was the best player on the best team more into account than Harden doing the most with the least amount of help. Curry definitely benefitted from being on a 67 win team, being only the 10th team to reach that mark in NBA history. Of the teams that reached the 65 plus mark only he and Magic Johnson led their teams in scoring at the point guard position. He is being put in the same breath as other greats as well with his performance this year. Curry is now the third MVP in NBA history to average two steals per game, the other two were Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson, according to ESPN.com. He is now the second Warrior in franchise history to win the award, with Wilt Chamberlain being the first, and only winner 50 years ago. Along with being compared to legends of the game Curry also set records during his MVP campaign. He set the NBA record for most games with five three pointers and five assists, racking up 24 such games. He also broke his own record for most three pointers made in one season with 286. In addition to Curry’s records, he also ranked sixth in the league in scoring, fourth in steals, third in PER and sixth in assists. He finished the season, averaging 23.8 points per game, 7.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds, two steals, and shooting 48 percent from the floor and 44 percent from three, all playing just over 32 minutes per game.
In the end Curry is the best player on the best team in the league. His numbers may not be off the charts, but taking into account that he finished in the top 10 in points, steal, assists and PER, shows that he is multi-dimensional and a highly effective player. To be ranked in the top ten in four major categories, while just playing 32 minutes is remarkable. In the NBA it’s all about winning games, Curry shouldn’t, and wasn’t punished for being on a great team, and looks to continue winning this postseason, after their game one victory over the Memphis Grizzles. The Warriors are still undefeated this postseason, and look to make a run at a title come June.