It’s been more than three months now since the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead and lost Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals to the Cavaliers. So surely Steph Curry is over it by now, right?
Yeah, no. The Game 7 loss is going to sting for awhile for Curry. In fact, there’s a good chance that he’ll never get over it completely. Even if Golden State goes on to win the next ten NBA championships, Curry & Co. are still going to look back at the 2015-16 season like, "What if…?"
USA Todayasked Curry about his Game 7 performance recently—which featured him missing 13 of the 19 shots he took including 10 of 14 from behind the three-point line—and he said that he’s still agonizing over it. He acknowledged that it’s going to be something that weighs on him for years to come.
"I still haven’t gotten over Game 7," he said. "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."
Curry also talked about how he felt in the immediate aftermath of the Warriors’ Game 7 loss. "Starting with that night, it kind of was like a surreal feeling at home," he said. "Kind of like, 'What happened?' because we were so confident we could get it done. Human nature kind of took in, where I was a little down—kind of naturally. But I was able to kind of just get away, go on vacation with the family, get in front of the next generation at a couple camps, still be around the game but not be depressed at all and understand we’re playing for the Finals and hopefully get another chance at it next year."
Fortunately for Curry, the internet has been kind and merciful this summer and hasn’t reminded him of his team’s shortcomings at all. Errrrrrr…
Yeah, so whether he wants to or not, Curry isn’t getting over Game 7 anytime soon.
