Better Finals performer? '96-'98 MJ vs '17-'19 Curry

[1987_Lakers]

'96 Jordan - 27/5/4/2 on 54 TS%
'97 Jordan - 32/7/2 on 53 TS%
'98 Jordan - 32/4/2/2 on 52 TS%

'17 Curry - 27/8/9/2 on 62 TS%
'18 Curry - 27/6/7 on 56 TS%
'19 Curry - 31/5/6/2 on 60 TS%

Seems pretty comparable to me.

[Stanley Kobrick]

michael has the push off and shot over Russell. stephen Curry has no iconic Finals moments between 15-19. at least yet that we've yet to find

[Rico2016]

Don't forget to include Curry had to get those #s against the GOAT LeBron, while MJ was feasting on a highly dysfunctional Seattle ChokerSonics and a washed up Utah Jazz conundrum of failed Original Trash Bros.

[theman93]

Don't forget to include Curry had to get those #s against the GOAT LeBron, while MJ was feasting on a highly dysfunctional Seattle ChokerSonics and a washed up Utah Jazz conundrum of failed Original Trash Bros.

They definitely weren’t washed up lol. The Jazz were the #1 seed in both 1997 and 1998 and were the only years they made the Finals in the 90’s while boasting the MVP in ‘97.

The 1997 Jazz actually compare very similarly to the 2016 Warriors in the playoffs.

1997 Jazz Point Differential: +3.3
2016 Warriors Point Differential: +4.4

1997 Jazz ORtg: 110.5
2016 Warriors ORtg: 110.5

1997 Jazz DRtg: 106.7
2016 Warriors DRtg: 106.1

1997 Jazz W/L: 13-7 (65% win pct)
2016 Warriors W/L: 15-9 (62.5% win pct)

If the Jazz were washed up then maybe the Warriors were actually never as good as we thought.

[Kblaze8855]

A great deal of the hate Steph sees about his finals is just foolish trolling. That said....


These are the two key defensive plays of the greatest of their series close out games......


https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ReflectingGracefulBittern-size_restricted.gif



https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PerfumedFlamboyantCarpenterant-size_restricted.gif





All the pieces matter.....

[tpols]

uh.... defense?

[tpols]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PerfumedFlamboyantCarpenterant-size_restricted.gif


That was actually great defense. Just better offense. There wasnt anything he did wrong there. No bites, trips, sags, etc.

But generally yes... MJ has a huge defensive advantage on Curry.

[Stanley Kobrick]

That was actually great defense. Just better offense. There wasnt anything he did wrong there. No bites, trips, sags, etc.

But generally yes... MJ has a huge defensive advantage on Curry.
doesn't really matter how stephen played it, the key point being Cavs specifically ran a play to get Curry on a island with Irving and it worked to perfection. jazz would never have run a play to get jordan in a switch, jordan never got subbed out of games during crunch time for being a liability on defense

[Rico2016]

uh.... defense?

Wait I thought only scoring mattered to MJ fans? What's going on here...Careful now :D

[tpols]

Wait I thought only scoring mattered to MJ fans? What's going on here...Careful now :D

Michael Jordan might be the best defensive perimeter player ever.

:facepalm:

[Manny98]

Curry averaged 3× the assists more rebounds and was much more efficient from the field than MJ

I'm pretty sure Curry averaged more steals as well

[Bronbron23]

'96 Jordan - 27/5/4/2 on 54 TS%
'97 Jordan - 32/7/2 on 53 TS%
'98 Jordan - 32/4/2/2 on 52 TS%

'17 Curry - 27/8/9/2 on 62 TS%
'18 Curry - 27/6/7 on 56 TS%
'19 Curry - 31/5/6/2 on 60 TS%

Seems pretty comparable to me.

Defence defence defence

[3ball]

'96 Jordan - 27/5/4/2 on 54 TS%
'97 Jordan - 32/7/2 on 53 TS%
'98 Jordan - 32/4/2/2 on 52 TS%

'17 Curry - 27/8/9/2 on 62 TS%
'18 Curry - 27/6/7 on 56 TS%
'19 Curry - 31/5/6/2 on 60 TS%

Seems pretty comparable to me.

Post sidekick stats

And post clutch-time stats (last 5 within 5)

And post % of team pts (burden)

Or I will

[Jordan96]

Post sidekick stats

And post clutch-time stats (last 5 within 5)

And post % of team pts (burden)

Or I will

Post lower rebounds/assists combo from a 1st option than 96-98 MJ

[theman93]

'96 Pippen - 16/8/5 on 43 TS%
'97 Pippen - 20/8/4 on 54 TS%
'98 Pippen - 16/7/5 on 50 TS%

'17 Durant - 35/8/5 on 70 TS%
'18 Durant - 29/11/8 on 65 TS%
'19 Thompson - 26/5/2 on 71 TS%

Much easier to post better offensive statistics when you have an all-world offensive player you can defer to. And even then it was only slightly. This also doesn't account for Curry getting abused on the defensive end, whereas Jordan was the abuser.

[Roundball_Rock]

Wait I thought only scoring mattered to MJ fans? What's going on here...Careful now :D

They talk about PPG non-stop every day no matter who the player being mentioned is but now suddenly care about defense? :roll:

[Rico2016]

They talk about PPG non-stop every day no matter who the player being mentioned is but now suddenly care about defense? :roll:

#CaughtEmAgain

[GimmeThat]

the age variance between the 2 squads indicates Curry has mental issues

[3ball]

.
96-98' Playoffs vs 17-19'


Jordan usage - 33-38
S Curry usage - 22-30


Jordan sidekick - 17.5 on 39% (0 fmvp)
S Curry sidekick - 26-35 on 50% (2 fmvp)


Jordan 29-38% of team points
S Curry 22-29% of team points

Jordan Opponent DRtg - 105-111
S Curry Opponent DRtg - 110-125

Jordan series pace - 82-90
S Curry series pace - 90-100

[HBK_Kliq_2]

3 more finals MVPS, couple more game winners, significantly better defense. 96-98 Jordan is still on a much higher tier over Curry.

[3ball]

.
96-98' Playoffs vs 17-19'


Jordan usage - 33-38
S Curry usage - 22-30


Jordan sidekick - 17.5 on 39% (0 fmvp)
S Curry sidekick - 26-35 on 50% (2 fmvp)


Jordan 29-38% of team points
S Curry 22-29% of team points

Jordan Opponent DRtg - 105-111
S Curry Opponent DRtg - 110-125

Jordan series pace - 82-90
S Curry series pace - 90-100

^^^ also jordan 50 clutch-time points in 97/98 vs 20 for Curry in 17-19'

[1987_Lakers]

Forgot to add Game score, we need all the advanced stats. :oldlol:

Curry
2017 - 24.1
2018 - 20.1
2019 - 22.8

MJ
1996 - 18.5
1997 - 23.4
1998 - 21.4

I'm shocked Curry has him beat in 2/3 Finals, I'm always told Curry was a bad Finals performer, what does that make 2nd 3 peat MJ?

[theman93]

How much easier was it for him to rack up assists in those Finals when the Warriors averaged 10 more FGA/g than the Bulls in their Finals from 1996-98 and he had the luxury of passing to Durant and Thompson?

Also, how much easier is it to rack up rebounds when there was 26 more FGA/g in the 2017-19 Finals compared to the 1996-98 Finals? Even still, Jordan only averaged 1 less rebound and actually averaged more ORB/g - 1.55 to Curry's 1.11 - with Chicago shooting 10 less FGA/g.

It's no surprise Jordan's TS% is lower considering that's about the difference in their career so that doesn't really move the needle. What is surprising though is that he shot the better raw fg% (43% to Curry's 42%) with really no one to pass to - Pippen averaged less than 16 ppg in the 96 and 98 Finals while shooting 68/182 (37%)...Kukoc played comparably offensively. You would expect Curry, who many consider the greatest shooter of all time, to shoot better from the field when he had Durant and Thompson to take the pressure of him. It's impressive Jordan actually shot better from the field with his second option shooting only 37% from the field.

[3ball]

Forgot to add Game score, we need all the advanced stats. :oldlol:

Curry
2017 - 24.1
2018 - 20.1
2019 - 22.8

MJ
1996 - 18.5
1997 - 23.4
1998 - 21.4

I'm shocked Curry has him beat in 2/3 Finals, I'm always told Curry was a bad Finals performer, what does that make 2nd 3 peat MJ?
The stats show that Jordan was far better offensively than Curry.. it isn't remotely close.. dumb thread

[Dr Hawk]

How the hell is Curry getting votes

[Roundball_Rock]

How much easier was it for him to rack up assists in those Finals when the Warriors averaged 10 more FGA/g than the Bulls in their Finals from 1996-98 and he had the luxury of passing to Durant and Thompson?

Also, how much easier is it to rack up rebounds when there was 26 more FGA/g in the 2017-19 Finals compared to the 1996-98 Finals? Even still, Jordan only averaged 1 less rebound and actually averaged more ORB/g - 1.55 to Curry's 1.11 - with Chicago shooting 10 less FGA/g.


And then...


Pippen averaged less than 16 ppg in the 96 and 98 Finals while shooting 68/182 (37%)...Kukoc played comparably offensively

So on the one hand we had to adjust MJ and Curry's stats for higher scoring and higher pace--but not with Pippen and Kukoc. :lol

Why do MJ stans keep omitting Pippen was playing great in 98' before he got hurt in the finals? People saw the "doc". The secret is out again. Maybe Pippen should have quit to preserve his averages instead of being a decoy in Game 6.

[BigShotBob]

Definitely MJ

[RogueBorg]

.
96-98' Playoffs vs 17-19'


Jordan usage - 33-38
S Curry usage - 22-30


Jordan sidekick - 17.5 on 39% (0 fmvp)
S Curry sidekick - 26-35 on 50% (2 fmvp)


Jordan 29-38% of team points
S Curry 22-29% of team points

Jordan Opponent DRtg - 105-111
S Curry Opponent DRtg - 110-125

Jordan series pace - 82-90
S Curry series pace - 90-100

Stick a fork in this thread. Anyone have any further questions?

[OrlandoMagicGuy]

This isn't even up for discussion,2nd three-peat Jordan better finals performer on both ends of the court.Curry's production always decreases in the post season and on top of that he's a liability on defense.

[Roundball_Rock]

#CaughtEmAgain

They are out in force suddenly caring about defense. This thread has to be bookmarked. :lol

[ImKobe]

Jordan was the clear-cut best player on his teams and led them to a record amount of wins over a 3-year stretch that even the 15-17 Warriors couldn't break.

[theman93]

And then...



So on the one hand we had to adjust MJ and Curry's stats for higher scoring and higher pace--but not with Pippen and Kukoc. :lol

Why do MJ stans keep omitting Pippen was playing great in 98' before he got hurt in the finals? People saw the "doc". The secret is out again. Maybe Pippen should have quit to preserve his averages instead of being a decoy in Game 6.
That is why I included his shooting %. 37% is terrible when MJ is there to take all the pressure off.

[theman93]

MJ with 9/12 votes. Another W for the GOAT. On to the next one

[Roundball_Rock]

That is why I included his shooting %. 37% is terrible when MJ is there to take all the pressure off.

MJ took the pressure of back, neck, and foot injuries off in 96'? Is he the pope or something? :oldlol: