STEPHEN CURRY will finally win Finals MVP if he keeps up his recent mastery – but he won't care as long as the Golden State Warriors win it all once again.
That's the verdict of NBA legend and three-time champion Bruce Bowen, who does not think the prize is Curry's main motivator for his epic performances.
Curry heads into tonight's Game 5 of the NBA Finals off the back off a truly incredible performance, where he scored 43 points in Game 4 to lead the Golden State Warriors past the Boston Celtics and level the best-of-seven series at 2-2.
The Warriors are now heavy favourites to win their fourth Larry O'Brien trophy in seven years, with two of the remaining three games – if needed – on home court.
Much has been made of Curry's lack of a Finals MVP, with that award arguably the most glaring omission from his brimming trophy cabinet.
Despite his ranking as the greatest shooter ever and two regular season MVPs, the eight-time All-Star has endured relative struggles in previous Finals runs, with Kevin Durant (2017 and 2018) and Andre Igoudala (2015) winning the top individual prize in their previous title wins.
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But Bowen, an eight-time All-Defensive Team selection during his playing career, does not believe Curry will care at all.
He told SunSport: "I think yes he wants that opportunity to win that award but at the same time that's not the only motivating factor.
"Whatever he can do to help them win is where he's at.
"I think that so much is made of it. If he keeps playing [like he is] and doing the things he's supposed to do it'll happen."
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Bowen thinks Curry's Game 4 performance was so impressive because he never forced anything, helping Golden State to an impressive and much needed win by playing team-first basketball.
He adds: "I saw a leader doing what he's been prepared to do for the majority of the season.
"He understands the severity of the moment – if he can get going then it's going to make things easier for his team-mates.
"And it's also the variety of ways in which he does it. It's not just jacking up shots, it was out of the flow of how they [wanted to play], searching out certain match ups, wanting to get at the bigs.
"The greats of the game tend to rise up in the most adverse situations."
However, Bowen was not impressed with the way the Celtics played, especially in the fourth quarter where they struggled to create good looks as a team with star men Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown playing a lot of one-on-one ball.
"I saw them relying on creation off the dribble way too much," Bowen says.
"There's moments when you say 'We need to get an easy basket out of the offence.' Well what's an easy basket from iso basketball? You have to rely on someone breaking someone else down.
"They have to set screens, you've got to do different things, you can't just run sets.
"When you have just sets other guys don't have rhythm. The only guy in rhythm will be the one handling the ball.
"The physicality of this series is wearing on both teams, so if you continue to try to do that, it's going to really have an affect."
Bowen previously predicted the Warriors to beat the Celtics in six games and while he concedes the series may now go the full seven, he still thinks Golden State's experience will prove to be the x-factor.
"You talk about Boston, no one has finals experience," he says.
"Those who have been there before understand the severity of having to get a game on the road.
"They might understand it a bit, but not to the point of where you are able to play lights out basketball.
"They haven't had a 40 point quarter since that game 1, that was kind of a fluke."
He jokes: "I stick with my prediction because I'm a 70s baby and we don't flip-flop like some people – 'oh, now I have this team'.
"No man, that's what I was asked and that's what I believe.
"And it's what you saw in Game 4, the experience of this Golden State team."
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