Stephen Curry played terribly in Game 2.
He shot 5-for-23, including 2-of-15 on 3-pointers and committed six turnovers. He air-balled the potential game-winner in overtime and threw away the ball on the Warriors’ final possession.
It was a disastrous performance for anyone, let alone the reigning MVP.
Here’s how every MVP has performed in each Finals game since 1985, as far back as Basketball-Reference.com has complete game logs. To measure, we’ll use Game Score:
the formula is PTS + 0.4 * FG - 0.7 * FGA - 0.4*(FTA - FT) + 0.7 * ORB + 0.3 * DRB + STL + 0.7 * AST + 0.7 * BLK - 0.4 * PF -TOV. Game Score was created by John Hollinger to give a rough measure of a player’s productivity for a single game. The scale is similar to that of points scored, (40 is an outstanding performance, 10 is an average performance, etc.).
Game | Game Score |
Tim Duncan: 2003 SAS-NJN G1 | 40.8 |
Shaquille O’Neal: 2000 LAL-IND G1 | 37.9 |
Charles Barkley: 1993 PHO-CHI G2 | 37 |
Michael Jordan: 1992 CHI-POR G1 | 36.9 |
Charles Barkley: 1993 PHO-CHI G4 | 35.6 |
Allen Iverson: 2001 PHI-LAL G1 | 35 |
Magic Johnson: 1987 LAL-BOS G3 | 35 |
Michael Jordan: 1991 CHI-LAL G2 | 34.7 |
Shaquille O’Neal: 2000 LAL-IND G2 | 33.5 |
Magic Johnson: 1988 LAL-DET G1 | 33.5 |
Michael Jordan: 1992 CHI-POR G5 | 33.3 |
Larry Bird: 1986 BOS-HOU G2 | 33 |
Michael Jordan: 1991 CHI-LAL G1 | 32.6 |
LeBron James: 2013 MIA-SAS G7 | 32.5 |
Larry Bird: 1986 BOS-HOU G6 | 32.2 |
Shaquille O’Neal: 2000 LAL-IND G6 | 30.9 |
Magic Johnson: 1987 LAL-BOS G1 | 30.9 |
Magic Johnson: 1987 LAL-BOS G5 | 30.7 |
Magic Johnson: 1987 LAL-BOS G2 | 30.6 |
Magic Johnson: 1988 LAL-DET G6 | 29.7 |
LeBron James: 2013 MIA-SAS G4 | 29.6 |
Shaquille O’Neal: 2000 LAL-IND G5 | 28.7 |
Shaquille O’Neal: 2000 LAL-IND G4 | 28.7 |
Michael Jordan: 1991 CHI-LAL G4 | 28.6 |
Michael Jordan: 1998 CHI-UTA G6 | 28.5 |
Karl Malone: 1997 UTA-CHI G3 | 28.2 |
Michael Jordan: 1996 CHI-SEA G3 | 28.1 |
Hakeem Olajuwon: 1994 HOU-NYK G4 | 28 |
Larry Bird: 1985 BOS-LAL G4 | 26.3 |
Michael Jordan: 1991 CHI-LAL G5 | 26.1 |
Tim Duncan: 2003 SAS-NJN G6 | 25.9 |
LeBron James: 2013 MIA-SAS G6 | 25.8 |
Tim Duncan: 2003 SAS-NJN G5 | 25.7 |
Magic Johnson: 1988 LAL-DET G3 | 25.6 |
LeBron James: 2012 MIA-OKC G5 | 25.5 |
Kobe Bryant: 2008 LAL-BOS G3 | 25.4 |
LeBron James: 2012 MIA-OKC G4 | 25.3 |
Michael Jordan: 1992 CHI-POR G6 | 25.3 |
Hakeem Olajuwon: 1994 HOU-NYK G6 | 25.1 |
Michael Jordan: 1992 CHI-POR G2 | 25.1 |
Magic Johnson: 1988 LAL-DET G2 | 25 |
Michael Jordan: 1998 CHI-UTA G2 | 24.8 |
Michael Jordan: 1991 CHI-LAL G3 | 24.8 |
LeBron James: 2012 MIA-OKC G2 | 24.7 |
Allen Iverson: 2001 PHI-LAL G3 | 24.1 |
Shaquille O’Neal: 2000 LAL-IND G3 | 23.6 |
Larry Bird: 1986 BOS-HOU G3 | 23.6 |
Kobe Bryant: 2008 LAL-BOS G2 | 23.3 |
Larry Bird: 1985 BOS-LAL G2 | 23 |
Magic Johnson: 1987 LAL-BOS G4 | 22.5 |
LeBron James: 2012 MIA-OKC G1 | 22.3 |
Magic Johnson: 1988 LAL-DET G7 | 22 |
Tim Duncan: 2003 SAS-NJN G4 | 21.9 |
Michael Jordan: 1996 CHI-SEA G2 | 21.8 |
Michael Jordan: 1998 CHI-UTA G4 | 21.5 |
Larry Bird: 1986 BOS-HOU G1 | 21.5 |
LeBron James: 2013 MIA-SAS G5 | 21.2 |
Michael Jordan: 1996 CHI-SEA G1 | 21.2 |
Tim Duncan: 2003 SAS-NJN G3 | 20.9 |
Hakeem Olajuwon: 1994 HOU-NYK G3 | 20.7 |
Larry Bird: 1986 BOS-HOU G4 | 20.6 |
Stephen Curry: 2015 GSW-CLE G1 | 20.4 |
LeBron James: 2013 MIA-SAS G1 | 20.4 |
LeBron James: 2012 MIA-OKC G3 | 20.4 |
Hakeem Olajuwon: 1994 HOU-NYK G2 | 20.2 |
Magic Johnson: 1989 LAL-DET G2 | 20.1 |
Magic Johnson: 1987 LAL-BOS G6 | 20.1 |
Larry Bird: 1985 BOS-LAL G1 | 20.1 |
Michael Jordan: 1998 CHI-UTA G1 | 20 |
Magic Johnson: 1989 LAL-DET G1 | 19.5 |
Allen Iverson: 2001 PHI-LAL G4 | 19.4 |
Charles Barkley: 1993 PHO-CHI G5 | 19.2 |
Charles Barkley: 1993 PHO-CHI G3 | 19 |
Allen Iverson: 2001 PHI-LAL G5 | 18.7 |
Michael Jordan: 1998 CHI-UTA G3 | 18.6 |
Larry Bird: 1985 BOS-LAL G5 | 18.4 |
Hakeem Olajuwon: 1994 HOU-NYK G1 | 18.3 |
Magic Johnson: 1988 LAL-DET G4 | 18.3 |
Karl Malone: 1997 UTA-CHI G4 | 18 |
LeBron James: 2013 MIA-SAS G2 | 17.9 |
Larry Bird: 1985 BOS-LAL G6 | 17.8 |
Hakeem Olajuwon: 1994 HOU-NYK G7 | 17.7 |
Charles Barkley: 1993 PHO-CHI G6 | 17.7 |
Michael Jordan: 1992 CHI-POR G4 | 17.3 |
Michael Jordan: 1992 CHI-POR G3 | 17.1 |
Hakeem Olajuwon: 1994 HOU-NYK G5 | 17 |
Magic Johnson: 1988 LAL-DET G5 | 16.5 |
Kobe Bryant: 2008 LAL-BOS G5 | 16.2 |
Karl Malone: 1997 UTA-CHI G6 | 15.6 |
Karl Malone: 1997 UTA-CHI G1 | 15.6 |
Michael Jordan: 1996 CHI-SEA G5 | 15.1 |
Michael Jordan: 1996 CHI-SEA G6 | 14.9 |
Michael Jordan: 1998 CHI-UTA G5 | 14.8 |
Kobe Bryant: 2008 LAL-BOS G4 | 14.3 |
Larry Bird: 1986 BOS-HOU G5 | 12.4 |
Charles Barkley: 1993 PHO-CHI G1 | 12.1 |
Larry Bird: 1985 BOS-LAL G3 | 12.1 |
Karl Malone: 1997 UTA-CHI G5 | 11.7 |
Karl Malone: 1997 UTA-CHI G2 | 11.6 |
Kobe Bryant: 2008 LAL-BOS G1 | 11 |
LeBron James: 2013 MIA-SAS G3 | 10.3 |
Michael Jordan: 1996 CHI-SEA G4 | 9.8 |
Tim Duncan: 2003 SAS-NJN G2 | 9.5 |
Kobe Bryant: 2008 LAL-BOS G6 | 8 |
Allen Iverson: 2001 PHI-LAL G2 | 5.2 |
Stephen Curry: 2015 GSW-CLE G2 | 2.9 |
Magic Johnson: 1989 LAL-DET G3 | -0.7 |
The only mark worse than Curry’s 2.9 is Magic Johnson’s -0.7 in Game 3 of the 1989 NBA Finals. But Johnson played just five minutes, missing a couple shots and dishing an assist, due to a hamstring injury suffered in Game 2. He missed all of Game 4 as the Pistons completed the sweep.
Curry played 42 stunningly awful minutes.
Credit Matthew Dellavedova and the Cavaliers’ defense. They performed well.
But also blame Curry for laying an egg when it counts most. MVPs aren’t supposed to play this way.
Until last night, it’d been a long time since one had.