Stephen Curry points his fingerless finger during Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals.
On Thursday night in Boston, Stephen Curry was crowned NBA champion for the fourth time and took his first award for Most Valuable Player in the NBA Finals, Bill Russell, adding one missing recognition to his future Hall of Fame autobiography.
As the Warriors celebrate their fourth championship in eight seasons, we take a closer look at the numbers Curry posted in his best performance in the finals to date. Here are five numbers you need to know from the MVP of the finals:
1. The first player with an average of 30-5-5 and five scored 3 points in the NBA Finals
Stephen Curry became only the fourth player in NBA history to average at least 30.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in numerous NBA finals, joining Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Jerry West.
In the 2019 final against Toronto, Curry averaged 30.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists, while the Warriors lost in six games. Three years later, Curry reached those points again, averaging 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in Golden State’s six-game win over the Celtics.
Stephen Curry
- 2019: 30.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 6.0 pg (loss)
- 2022: 31.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 5.0 pg (win)
Michael Jordan
- 1991: 31.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 11.4 pg (victory)
- 1993: 41.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 6.3 apg (win)
- 1997: 32.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 6.0 pg (win)
Jerry West
- 1966: 33.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 5.1 apg (loss)
- 1968: 31.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 5.7 pg (loss)
LeBron James
- 2015: 35.8 ppg, 13.3 rpg, 8.8 pg (loss)
- 2017: 33.6 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 10.0 apg (loss)
- 2018: 34.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 10.0 apg (loss)
Curry adds another layer to this incredible stat line as he is the only player in NBA history to average at least five 3 points per game in the finals. He achieved this feat for the first time in 2018, but this year he added 5.2 3 points to his already astonishing 30-5-5 to give him the first-of-its-kind final 30-5-5-5 since the introduction of hit for 3 points in 1979-80.
Stephen Curry pierces Dagger 3 to finish Boston.
2. Offensive efficiency on / off the court
Stephen Curry led all players to 187 points in a six-game streak, accounting for 29.7% of Golden State’s 629 points in the final. To add some context to Curry’s level of performance, here are the five players responsible for your team’s performance:
- Jaylan Brown: 141 out of 605 points in Boston (23.3%)
- Jason Tatum: 129 (21.3%)
- Andrew Wiggins: 110 (17.5%)
- Clay Thompson: 102 (16.2%)
- Marcus Smart: 91 (15.0%)
While Curry was on the court, he won 36% of the Golden State points, including 41.3% of their 3 points. But as we have learned throughout the Warriors dynasty, Curry’s influence on the Golden State attack exceeds the points he himself scores. His very presence on the court – “gravity” – attracts so much attention from the opponent’s defense that it makes the game easier for his teammates, providing additional space and opportunities for a higher percentage.
Looking at the finals, Warrior’s attack scored 115.8 points per 100 possessions in 225 minutes on Curry’s court. In his 109 minutes off the court, Golden State’s offensive efficiency dropped to 88.6 points per 100 possessions.
Another note about Curry’s offensive effectiveness against the NBA’s highest defense: 62.6 Curry’s true shooting rate is the highest of the big guard (minimum of at least 100 attempts per flight goal; 43 players qualify) in the history of the finals. If we include all the positions, Curry ranks ninth out of 86 qualified players.
FINALS PLAYER IN EXPANSION TS% FGM-A (FG%) 3 PM-A (3P%) FTM-A (FT%) 1 Stephen Curry 2022 62.6% 66-137 (48.2%) 31-71 (43, 7%) 24-28 (85.7%) 2 Chris Paul 2021 62.2% 55-100 (55.0%) 12-23 (52.2%) 9-12 (75.0%) 3 Michael Jordan 1992 61.7% 81-154 (52.6%) 12-28 (42.0%). 41-46 (89.1%) 4 Dwayne Wade 2011 61.4% 59-108 (54.6%) 7-23 (30.4%) 34-49 (69.4%) 5 Michael Jordan 1991 61, 2% 63-113 (54.8%) (50.0%) 28-33 (84.8%) 6 Stephen Curry 2019 59.8% 53-128 (41.4%) 23-67 (34.3 %) 54-57 (94.7%) 7 Magic Johnson 1987 59.0% 66-122% (50.0%) 1-2 (50.0%) 24-25 (96.0%) 8 Reggie Miller 2000 58.8% 43-104 (41.3%) 15-40 (37.5%) 45-46 (97.8%) 9 Stephen Curry 2015 54-5% 54-5% 122 (44.3 %) 25-65 (38.5%) 23-26 (88.5%) 10 Stephen Curry 2016 58.0% 50-124 (40.3%) 32-80 (40.0%) 26-28 92.9%)
Curry has now recorded four of the top 10 real shooting percentages posted by a guard with at least 100 attempts to score from a flight in the NBA Finals – but no better than 2022.
Stephen Curry won the coveted MVP awards in the finals.
3. Top 3-point shooting Show finals
Curry entered the NBA Finals in 2022, holding the record for the most 3 points made in the history of the finals, with 121 in 28 games in the championship stage. With those extra six games, he added 31 more to that total, extending his record to 152. Teammate Clay Thompson (105) and rival LeBron James (101) are the only other players in the history of the finals with at least 100 3 points.
Curry’s 31 points scored the most in a six-game game in the NBA Finals; he broke his own record (25) of the Golden State title in 2015, the first of that dynasty. Jason Tatum and Clay Thompson tied for the second 3 points in the 2022 finals with 20 each.
Maximum 3 in a series of 6 games, NBA Finals
- 31: Stephen Curry, Golden State, 2022
- 25: Stephen Curry, Golden State, 2015
- 24: Clay Thompson, Golden State, 2019
Curry fell with only one 3-pointer to match his own record in each final series; he knocked down 32 in the loss of the Golden State in seven games against Cleveland in 2016.
While Curry made 3 more points in 2016 and he scored 3 more points per game in 2018 (5.5) when the Warriors defeated the Cavs, Curry never shot a higher percentage of the 3-point range than in 2022 v. Boston. Curry finished the final with a 31-for-71 (43.7%) 3-point shot and that included his first playoff game with zero 3 points scored – he shot 0-for-9 in Game 5 before bouncing back with 6-for-11 performance in a clinch series.
Finals 3PM 3PA 3P% 2015 25 65 38.5% 2016 32 80 40.0% 2017 19 49 38.8% 2018 22 53 41.5% 2019 23 67 34.3% 2022 31 71 43.7% Total 152 385 39.5% Average 4.47 11.32
The greatest scorer of all time has just had his best performance in shooting in the NBA Finals and this helped him win his first MVP award in the finals.
4. Pull shooting
What sets Curry apart from other great scorers in NBA history is his ability to shoot with 3 points on the move as well as still off the catch. Curry’s recruiting skills were fully demonstrated during the 2022 NBA Finals, as he led all players with 36 such buckets, including 23 3 points.
To put those numbers into perspective, no other player in this year’s finals made more than 13 rebounds in the series, and only five hit double digits:
- Stephen Curry: 36-75 (48.0%)
- Jason Tatum: 13-47 (27.7%)
- Clay Thompson: 13-38 (34.2%)
- Jaylan Brown: 12-31 (38.7%)
- Jordan Poole: 12-31 (38.7%)
The difference with the rest of the field is similar when we focus only on dialing 3s:
- Stephen Curry: 23-55 (41.8%)
- Jason Tatum: 10-23 (43.5%)
- Jordan Poole: 8-25 (32.0%)
- Clay Thompson: 4-13 (30.8%)
- Jaylan Brown: 4-9 (44.4%)
Overall, Curry shot 36-for-75 (48.0%) when scoring finals with an effective flight percentage of 63.3%. All other players in the finals combined a 68-for-210 shot (32.4%) with an effective goal-to-game percentage of 39.8%.
Curry saved his best shooting shot of the season for the NBA Finals. In the regular season, he shot 39% of the field, 37.4% of 3 and had 52.5 effective percentage of recruitment flights. Of the 96 players with at least 200 recruitment attempts, Curry ranked 10th in the percentage of effective flights.
Regular season 64 226 579 39.0 156 417 37.4 52.5 Playoffs (pre-finals) 16 55 136 40.4 36.49.6.5 8.5 16.4 36.49 8.6.5
During the first three rounds of the playoffs before the final, Curry shot with 40.4% of the field and a range of 3 points for an effective flight percentage of 53.7% in recruits. Of the 48 players with at least 25 attempts to score in the first three rounds of the playoffs, Curry ranked seventh in the percentage of effective flights.
During the NBA Finals, that effective goal percentage jumped another 10 percentage points as Curry finished nearly 12 percentage points higher than any other player on the field.
Stephen Curry’s best NBA finals game of four titles.
5. Dominant off screens and switches
One of the key games to watch entering the NBA Finals in 2022 was Curry vs. Marcus Smart, who has just been named Kia’s best defender of the year in the league. When we look at the data on Curry’s offensive games in the series, we see that Smart defended Curry for a team of 27:50 and did a good job of slowing Curry down. Smart kept Curry up to 25 points in 34.8% shooting from the field, including 25.0% of the 3-point range, with as many turnovers (six) as assists.
But it was when the Warriors pulled Smart out of Curry with balls that forced multiple switches that Curry managed to use matches. Curry made 18 shots, including eight three-pointers in just under 21 minutes for Derrick White. And Curry made 15 shots, including nine of his 31 3-tricks, in just over seven minutes for the game against Al Horford.
MATCH UP MATCHUP MIN PTS AST TOV FGM FG% 3PM 3P% FTM Marcus Smart 27:50 25 6 6 8 34.8 3 25.0 6 Derrick White 20:54 44 6 2 18 52.9 0 47: 4 Tatum 0 Jayson.6 0 5 62, 5 3 Jaylan Brown 7:02 11 2 0 4 57.1 0 0 3 Al Horford 7:16 41 7 2 15 57.7 9 64.3 2 Robert Williams III 5:40 23 5 3 10 2 40.0 3 0 Grant Williams 40.0 3 0 1 6 46.2 3 42.9 1 Peyton Pritchard 1:42 8 0 0 3 100 2 100 0 Aaron Nesmith 0:16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nick Stauskas 0:12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Daniel Theis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Below is a breakdown game by game of the number of …
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