Stephen Curry is the NBA's Best Closer, Per GM Survey
We’ve been harping on the false narrative that Stephen Curry isn’t clutch for a long, long time now. There are so many stats to deny the sentiment, and he’s proved it on so many nights not just in the last season, but over the last few years of his career. He’s put up excellent 4th quarter stats in his past two seasons since his injury-derailed 2019-2020 campaign, and he’s hit the most game-winning shots since 2013, sitting at a count of 8.
In a surprise many of people likely didn’t see coming, this year’s NBA general manager survey had Steph voted first for the guy you want shooting with the game on the line - 55% of NBA GMs put their confidence in him, with the follow-ups being a legendary closer in Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard, who himself is no slouch when it comes to game-winners. This survey shows a shift in the narrative when it comes to Steph’s level of clutch, and while we’ve been watching him work his magic for years, it’s probably the 2022 playoffs which really put people on notice.
Down 2-1 in Boston for a Game 4 that could’ve likely decided the series in the Celtics’ favor, Curry went ballistic.
We’ve seen the highlights a million times by now probably, but while Curry was unstoppable the entire game, his 4th quarter shined in particular. He put up 10 points in the final frame to seal the game, shooting 50/100/83 from the field. He was the leading scorer in the whole Finals during the 4th quarter, putting up 6.6 points per game (including Game 5 where the Celtics sold out on him and proceeded to lose by 10).
Finally, we’ve got a narrative that makes some sense. Aside from the obvious “best pure shooter” or “best at moving without the ball” or even “player who forces the most adjustments” (all questions from the GM survey where the answers had him at #1), the story is beginning to show some truth with him being the player a GM wants with the shot on the line. The evidence is certainly there to support it, and when add ice-cold veins to one of the game’s best offensive players ever, it only makes sense you’d want him to be the one shooting it to determine a game’s results.
Steph has always stepped up when it matters most, especially in the NBA Finals, but dud games where he just can’t get it going happen once on occasion and people want to run stories about how his weaknesses were so well-covered by his teammates (most commonly Kevin Durant, although delusional detractors now paint Andrew Wiggins as his savior from last year’s run) that he’s not as good as he actually is. Using one-off examples despite a history of dominance has made discourse nearly impossible when it comes to changing the narrative around Steph. At the end of the day, people just want to hate regardless of the results that they see because they can’t fathom how one of the league’s shortest guys can change a defense’s entire game plan with how good he is.
While he’s getting now into his mid-30s, Stephen Curry is one of the players who is redefining longevity, so much so that he may actually be more versatile as a whole this late into his career. With enough noise and a lack of a shooting slump that punted his campaign last season, another MVP could be within Curry’s sights now that the narratives are more on his side. NBA GMs have come to recognize his greatness, and with the normalization, we could see awards voters finally giving him that recognition too. While there will always be detractors and haters, you can only deny greatness for so long before it becomes too obvious to ignore.
(Photo credit: Harry How / Getty Images)