Stephen Curry and Golden State Warriors Focus on Wins, Not MVP Race

Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors have a lot to boast about right now.

Curry is the leading MVP candidate, the Warriors have the second best record in the NBA right now at 48-12 (which is the best record they’ve had in franchise history through 60 games), they have the best home record in the NBA at 26-2, they have won 48 games in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1974-75 and 1975-76 seasons, and they have 34 double-digit wins this season, which is a franchise record.

The Warriors’ coaching staff and Curry’s teammates all believe that Curry is the obvious choice for MVP, but they are more focused right now on winning games and finishing out the season strong instead of building up the “Curry for MVP” hype, as seen in recent comments by Steve Kerr and Andrew Bogut, reported by Monte Poole of Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area:

"Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Thursday emphasized that he’s all for Curry winning the award, but his role as coach requires broader considerations.“I care,” Kerr said after practice. “I’d like for Steph to win the MVP and I think he deserves it.“But I don’t think it’s our job to promote it. We’re trying to win games. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”Kerr is willing to leave the promotional campaign to other franchises – specifically mentioning Houston general manager Daryl Morey, who is openly touting Rockets guard James Harden for MVP.“If Daryl Morey wants to run his own one-man campaign for James Harden, he can do that. That’s fine,” Kerr said. “But we’re focused on other stuff.”Warriors center Andrew Bogut, in regards to Curry’s MVP candidacy, spoke from the script as his coach.“We’re not (focused on it) as a team,” Bogut said. “But we obviously think that Steph’s the MVP right now.”Curry and Harden have for most of the season been the leaders of the MVP race. Making late surges are Cleveland’s LeBron James and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook.“Westbrook’s having a great year, but he missed a fair bit of time,” Bogut pointed out. “But we never really get the attention like some of these other teams. I don’t know if that’s a part of it, but Steph’s obviously deserving of the MVP at this point of the season. There’s no doubt about it.”"

Curry has admitted that he wants that MVP award, but it’s not his main focus for the rest of the season. He knows that he has some tough competition for the MVP award, but he, like his head coach and his teammates, is focusing on taking the rest of a season one game at a time.

Curry spoke about this after Friday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks and also in Friday’s shootaround before the game, according to Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:

"“We continue to win games and have dominant performances and just play consistent, and things will work out,” Curry said of the MVP race.…“If my play doesn’t speak for that point, then me saying it after games — ‘I want to be MVP, I want to be MVP’ — I don’t think that’s going to help anything,” Curry said before the game. “My job is to go out and play at a high level every single night, lead my team, continue to try to help win games. All that will hopefully be a good enough resume to get that honor.“It’s something that I do want. It’s one of the highest honors in the league to be an MVP of the season. I know what that means. Hopefully we finish out the season strong in the right way, and people notice what’s going on on the court as opposed to what’s being said.”"

The Warriors have the right approach when it comes to finishing out the season. The focus needs to be on each game and putting themselves in the best position to succeed in the playoffs, which would most likely mean earning and maintaining the best record in the NBA.

Curry shares the same approach.

More from Golden Gate Sports

Home/Golden State Warriors