Barbosa says Steph changed in one key way over the years

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At 33 years old, Steph Curry is coming off one of the best seasons of his 12-year NBA career. He’s an NBA MVP finalist after putting up a league-leading 32 points per game, among other things.

He has pretty much always been this way.

But Leandro Barbosa sees a key difference between Steph now and when they were teammates.

“The difference is that now he knows he has a lot of pressure, a lot of responsibility on his shoulders,” former teammate Leandro Barbosa said Friday on 95.7 The Game's "Steiny, Guru & Dibs."

“He was good, he was doing pretty much what he did this season, but he had a couple of other players around him. He didn’t have that much responsibility on his back, on his shoulders. He knows right now that he needs to drop 35 points every single game.”

The two won a championship as teammates in 2014-15 and lost in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in the season after. The Warriors were in the early days of their dynasty, and Steph won back-to-back NBA MVP awards.

Barbosa now serves as a player mentor coach with the Warriors.

“The experience over the years, he got on his game, he learned from all the players around him, especially Kevin Durant and other players. He’s more mature now, so it’s just getting easy to do with he’s doing,” Barbosa added.

Well, it’s easy for Steph, I’m sure. At least that how he makes it look. 

This season he also went 337-for-801 from beyond the arc with a league-high 2,015 total points.

All right then.

RELATED: Barbosa was 'more than close' to playing for Warriors this year

Outside of the numbers, he’s carrying himself like an MVP-caliber player just by being himself. Now that he’s a veteran, he’s more comfortable in his own shoes. So as Barbosa mentions the pressure on Steph, you can’t see it. He’s still the down-to-earth guy that he always has been. With and without having KD as a teammate. 

He’s able to perform at the highest level on and off the court -- that screams MVP.

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