Curry's All-Star omission is glaring
Stephen Curry was Golden State's soul during its NBA playoff run this spring.
They were not, really, snubs; more like unavoidable omissions.
Carlos Boozer, certainly, and Mehmet Okur, possibly, deserved to be All Stars in 2007, and so they were, which helped the argument against young Jazz point guard Deron Williams.
The best argument against another guard that season was against Spurs point guard Tony Parker, but Parker had made the team the year before. Also, Parker was riding that insulting wave of late discovery to which Western Conference players often are subjected (Boozer, Elton Brand, Brandon Roy). Besides, the Spurs leaned on Parker that spring and Parker won the NBA Finals MVP award.
But Parker might not have been the best point guard in those playoffs.
Williams, in his second NBA season, scored 19.2 points, dealt 8.2 assists, shot 45.2 percent from the floor and grabbed 4.3 rebounds per game as Utah made it to the conference Finals (Okur disappeared in the postseason). Williams' name was made, and he has been an All Star three times since.
Six years later, Stephen Curry has used a playoff surge to make his All Star exclusion look just as embarrassing.
It was forward David Lee, not Curry, who represented Golden State in Houston this season, but the debate was: Did Lee deserve an All Star debut more than did Curry?
Both, certainly, could have gone, but it that was not going to happen this year for a lightly-regarded Warriors team. Lee– a deceptively effective, lefthanded embodiment of basketball efficiency – got the nod. Lee's appointment was sort of a lifetime achievement award, considering Lee, in his eight season, was averaging a double-double for the fourth time and was averaging at least 18 points a game for the third time.
But Curry, in his fourth season, clearly was the team's soul … and was shooting 45.1 percent from 3-point range and taking more than seven 3's per game. Perhaps the Western Conference coaches knew that, as with Williams, Curry's day would come.
A lot of them should come.
Curry averaged 23.4 points, 8.1 assists and 1.7 steals in Golden State's 12-game postseason ride, which the Spurs ended last night.
(ital.) And he did it without Lee. (end ital.)
A torn hip flexor limited Lee to 65 minutes in six playoff games. He probably shouldn't have played that much.
Curry, in his absence, was positively brilliant.
How much so?
Well, the Spurs began face-guarding Curry after the he averaged 26 points and hit 16 of 39 3-pointers in the first four games of the team teams' semifinal series, which then was tied, 2-2.
His chronically aching ankles howling, in the final two games Curry managed 31 points on 14-for-49 shooting, and he made just 3 of 15 3-pointers.
All-Star? Certainly.
MVP candidate? Next season.
For the record, the guard selected over Curry to go to Houston this season was … Spurs point guard Tony Parker.
Who, by the way, appears on his headed toward another Finals MVP.