Stephen Curry’s one-on-one triumph over LeBron James was one of the most talked about moments from Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
The Golden State Warriors guard found himself being guarded by the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar in the third quarter, and he dribbled in a few different directions before driving to the basket and scoring on two Cleveland defenders.
Curry was fired up, and it seemed to be a momentum-shifter in the game. But his reaction didn’t sit well with some people, including WFAN and New York City sports radio legend Mike Francesa.
“Curry looked ridiculous on that play,” Francesca said Monday. “Listen, do you know how many times LeBron James has scored over every one of them and not shown them up? It just shows you that Curry doesn’t have a lot of class as a player. To me, he acts like a clown on the court. You know how many times LeBron has dunked over him or embarrassed him and scored over him and not shown him up? For him to do that, the one time he scores over him, is just ridiculous. I thought that was really classless on Curry’s part. I really did.”
James definitely stares people down or gets emotional after dunking on them. It doesn’t happen every time he dunks on someone, but it does happen.
And James showed up Curry in Game 6 of last season’s NBA Finals when he blocked the Golden State guard under the basket. It’s possible Curry’s reaction Sunday was in response to that reaction from James last year.
Players shouldn’t be ripped for showing emotion. When you make a huge play on a stage as large as the NBA Finals, go ahead and celebrate.
Thumbnail photo via Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Images
