The head coach of the Golden State Warriors isn’t involved in MVP vote politicking. He doesn’t have to. Stephen Curry destroying the Phoenix Suns all on his own does the talking he needs to win the award.
Not that it’s a done deal. James Harden, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James are all in the contest for winning the award, but it’s hard to say Curry doesn’t deserve it. He scored 36 points in the 98-80 win over the Phoenix Suns, 25 of them coming in the second half. It was his 13th 30-point game of the season, hitting 7-of-13 from beyond the arc, including 6-of-8 in the second half as the Warriors pulled away with a 30-15 third quarter.
It wasn’t just Curry, obviously. Klay Thompson scored 25 points, his 18th game this season with 25 points or more. That’s tied with his career high from last season, but the Warriors still have 20 more games to play, so it’s hard to imagine him not breaking the record this season.
Jeff Hornacek seems like he has given up on trying to get something out of this team. Players are less and less responsive. The Suns are now three games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the final playoff spot, and he complained that his players just stood around, doing one-on-one stuff in the second half. Something in the link and chain of command has been broken in Phoenix for quite some time.
Draymond Green probably felt a little bit overconfident from his performance in the win over the Clippers and took 13 shots, hitting just three of them. He still was the only other player on the Warriors to score in double figures, but it doesn’t really matter when Curry and Thompson are in their unstoppable mode.
The Warriors have now won 50 games in back to back seasons for the first time in franchise history. There’s something good happening in the Bay Area, and it began with Mark Jackson, but it wasn’t enough. Kerr, along with the natural development and improvement of his players, is taking it to a whole new level. Curry winning the MVP is nice, but it’s not the most important thing the Warriors are playing for this season.