Because Riley isn’t old enough to understand the scoreboard, Stephen Curry had a tough conversation with his 3-year-old daughter on the car ride home Sunday night.
“We didn’t win,” he told her.
“I know,” Riley responded. “It’s OK.”
Curry told the story Monday in the aftermath of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 93-89 victory in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The loss knocked out the defending champions and left the Warriors on a sour note after a 73-win regular season.
Curry shot poorly in the decisive game (4 of 14 from 3-point range). But the MVP took a cue from Riley and decided to move on quickly.
After an afternoon meeting at the Warriors’ practice facility Monday, he was already looking ahead to next year.
“It’s not over,” Curry said. “Obviously, it’s not how we wanted the season to end this year. But we are very, very confident, optimistic and excited knowing what we can accomplish going forward.”
He knows there will be finger-pointing - including at him. Curry had a disappointing performance in the Finals and was outplayed by Cleveland’s LeBron James on basketball’s biggest stage.
“I’ll take it on the chin because I know I didn’t play my best,” Curry said. “That’s something that I’ll have to deal with. That’s my own expectation and my own kind of self-assessment. I don’t need anybody else to tell me that.
“My team didn’t win. I didn’t play my best. That’s not going to be the end of the story. That’s just going to be a down chapter in the book.”
Curry also deflected blame from Draymond Green, the Warriors’ combustible forward, whose suspension for Game 5 turn the tide of the series. Golden State became the first team to lose an NBA Finals after leading 3-1. After the game Sunday night, Green took the blame for putting himself in position to get suspended.
Curry, on Monday, said he didn’t buy it. “I think it’s kind of unfair for him to say that,” he said. “It’s on all of us.... All I’m going to think about this summer is what I didn’t do well enough to help us win.
“I think that’s a healthy kind of way to channel it, knowing that we’re going to continue to get better as players, as teammates and as people
going forward because of this experience.”
Curry dismissed the suggestion that injuries played a role in his lacklustre Finals. He indicated that there are no surgeries ahead for his ailing knee and said he just needs “to get some rest and recovery for all sorts of body parts.”
“I wasn’t 100 percent, no, but it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Coming back from a knee injury I was able to play and able to give it what I had. And it wasn’t enough.”


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