Kevin Durant probably got flashbacks of the time he was Stephen Curry’s teammate when the latter drained a clutch three to give the Warriors a 113-112 win over his Suns on Saturday night.
After the game, Durant couldn’t stop singing the praises of his former teammate, hailing him as the greatest point guard in NBA history and one of the five best players to ever dribble a basketball.
“All-time greatest at his position. Top five in the world… I mean top-five ever,” Durant said of Curry.
While Curry was chased by two defenders in Golden State’s final possession, he got just enough separation to drain a turnaround three with 0.7 seconds on the clock. Durant credited Curry for capitalizing on the defensive miscommunication on his team’s part.
“You give him a look like that at the end of the game and he’s probably licking his chops,” he said.
Durant is not alone in thinking Curry has surpassed Magic Johnson as the greatest PG ever. Curry, albeit not a prototypical floor general, himself embraced the G.O.A.T. tag during a conversation with Gilbert Arenas last summer. In response, Johnson reminded the world that his five NBA titles trump Curry’s four.
“OK, so, if he [Curry] got more than five championships, if he got more than three Finals MVPs, and three league MVPs, then he’s the greatest,” Johnson said last September.
While Curry can win his fifth championship in a few months, the odds of him doing so could be better. The 10th-seeded Warriors currently have the 16th-shortest odds win to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June, with as many as nine Western Conference rivals more favored to win at all.