You are funny. Really straining to find some excuse. The deeper you get into the playoffs the more physical the game becomes and the more often the referees swallow their whistles. The same issue has hampered Harden at times. Curry isn't as good as LeBron James. He doesn't have to carry near the same load or have the same level of responsibilities. I knew that there would be excuses coming out from Warriors fans. It isn't the officials fault that Curry struggled in the Finals and as a consequence the Warriors had the largest choke in NBA Finals history. Just accept it and deal with it.
I watched it. You are not gonna like my answer, but none of these are playoff-caliber fouls. They wouldn't even be called in a pickup basketball game. Do you really want an NBA where players can handle less contact than at the YMCA?
Yet in that same video, we see Irving push off twice with his forearm and both times, the foul is called on the defender. And what about Shumpert's 4 point play? There was contact on the hand, but how was that egregious enough to warrant a foul when a forearm to Curry's chest wasn't? Is there really such a thing as "playoff-caliber" fouls? We've seen plenty of ticky-tack fouls get called in the playoffs. Remember Wade's 2006 finals performance? It's gotten to the point where this "playoff-caliber" nonsense has evolved into the Flash's speed force. When there's an unexplainable event, it must be the work of the speed force. Similarly, when a Kevin Love forearm into Curry's chest isn't called a foul, it must not have been a "playoff-caliber" foul...
Blatantly hitting a guy in the arm right after he shoots a three is not the same as a shove while a guy is dribbling around. This isn't helping your argument. I do feel Curry was called on a lot of touch and phantom fouls the last two games yet the refs let defenders play rough with him. He has to tough thru it like LeBron who seemed to get hit almost every time he took it strong to the basket with a 10% foul call ratio.
Regardless of what people think of Curry, people need to compare like player to like player. Comparing Curry to players, say, like Lebron or Shaq for example is just comparing apples to oranges. Bottom line, Curry is 6'3" 190 lbs PG and with that kind of size there is a limit to what he can do. He is a perimeter PG player that shoots, passes and drives. OTOH a 7'0" 300 lbs Shaq is limited to what he can do. He can post-up, rebound, and overwhelm you offensively and protect the rim with the best of them. But he's can't bring up the ball and shoot and drive from the perimeter and move around the court. I've never really liked these GOAT discussions that mix and match completely different types of players and size of players. It makes no sense to me.
Don't doubt the Shaq daddy breh! Spoiler <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HUtIUnj37NE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kVsWuHblBwU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aCvTmmj6QUo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wL6CYWJcx_I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PCJYT8M5rMg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I don't know what to tell you, bro. I'm certainly not going to argue the NBA gets all its calls right. They did let this series go physical, but Irving only shot 4 FTs in game 7, which is nothing unusual. And bringing up Wade's 2006 doesn't help your cause. That's one of the more well-known examples of bad officiating. All I can say is that this is why I prefer a league that calls the playoffs loose. When you do that, you end up with games dominated by strength and athleticism, which anybody can appreciate. If you call games tight (which is what players like Curry and Harden depend on), then everything becomes about whether the officiating is accurate. You get legal fights like this one, instead of basketball.
Its not that simple though. Even when refs are letting fouls go and calling things loose, they are rarely consistent. They'll let defenders but guys like Curry all game then call touch fouls. Tight or loose doesn't matter as much as overall consistency.
Refs are not omniscient. If you are saying that Curry got more bad calls then maybe he did. All i can say is that it wasn't excessive. Its not like he got kicked in the balls without a call. Refs can control style of play, but asking them to be 'consistent' the way you mean it s actually an insanely high standard. Ugh this is becoming a legal debate again.
I don't understand the argument here. If Curry couldn't be the best player (defensively or offensively) on his own team in 2 seasons of playoffs, whether they won or lost in the finals, how can he be THE Best in the league? Where is common sense?
Yet Curry was continually called for touch fouls. Do you remember his 5th and 6th fouls from game 6? If anything, those were examples of incidental contact at worst. The reason I brought up Wade's 2006 is to rebut the concept of a "playoff foul".
My point is you can't point to the regular season and ignore the fact that Curry benefited from the Warriors getting away with far more physicality and moving screens and turn around and all of the sudden point out the physicality and fouls only when it puts Curry at a disadvantage. LeBron outplayed him and clearly is still the best. Curry is still top 5 in the league but clearly isn't the best.
It's actually an extremely low standard. Call obvious fouls. That's all I want. Since when did that become so difficult? When the ball-handler gets body checked in the open court, call a foul. When an off-ball player is running his route and receives a forearm shiver to the chest from a help defender, call a foul.
Well you clearly have been but it's a double standard then and a logical fallacy. It has to be either: -Curry had one of the best regular season ever, BUT he was able to in part because the Warriors got away with the most moving screens and physicality to get him open AND -Curry was a massive disappointment in the WCF and finals because other teams were allowed to be more physical than normal on him OR -Curry had one of the best regular seasons ever AND -Curry was a massive disappointment in the WCF and finals.
