Curry: 'I still haven't gotten over Game 7'
In arguably the biggest game of his basketball career to date, back-to-back Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry came up short when it mattered most in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.
The Chef was ice cold at Oracle Arena, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting from the field and 4-of-14 from deep in 39 minutes of action. The Cleveland Cavaliers went on to win the game 93-89, overcoming a 3-1 series deficit and hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy on the road.
"I still haven't gotten over Game 7," Curry told USA Today Sports' Sam Amick during a break shooting a Degree Men commercial on Tuesday. "That's something that will stay with me pretty much forever, for good and bad reasons. Obviously you hated the feeling, but it's also a motivator to come back even stronger and try not to have that feeling again.
"I'm at that point now where I can try to fuel any kind of terrible nightmares or thoughts about Game 7 into motivation for how I'm going to prepare myself for this year."
Related: Curry watching Game 7 of Finals for motivation
The pivotal moment of the finale came late in the fourth quarter when Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving connected on a contested 3-pointer right in Curry's grill, putting his side up by three with 53 seconds remaining.
A sprained knee he suffered during Game 4 against the Houston Rockets in the opening round continued to give Curry problems late in the postseason, with the 28-year-old recently admitting that he wasn't 100 percent. Curry, though, wouldn't use his injury to justify the loss.
Related: Curry's trainer: That wasn't him in the 2016 NBA Finals
A 73-win regular season put Golden State in the record books, but not capturing the title diminishes the team's extravagant accomplishment, and presumably prevents it from being considered the greatest in NBA history.
"We were deemed the latest and greatest, the untouchable team," Curry added. "We didn't have that mentality. We had that confidence that we could win every game, but it wasn’t like we could be invincible and just show up and win. (Losing) just reminds you that to win a championship, it takes a lot of good bounces. It takes just a lot of mental and physical focus and endurance. But it's not guaranteed, so that was all it reminded me (of). It made me appreciate the year before, and hopefully made me appreciate the next journey."