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......












All the pieces matter.....

[tpols]

uh.... defense?

[tpols]

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

[tpols]

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

Michael Jordan might be the best defensive perimeter player ever.

:

[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.