The Top Five Clownings from MVP Steph Curry

Steph Curry is set to be named MVP for the second consecutive season. According to Marc Stein, the NBA will announce the honor within the next couple days, but it's been academic for most of the year. Following a dream season that saw him lead the Golden State Warriors to an NBA title, Curry somehow got better.

Although he has been sidelined with a MCL strain, Curry participated in a light practice yesterday and Steve Kerr didn't rule out his return tonight in Game 4, but it still seems like a long shot. So while we wait for his return, let's look back on the year that was in Steph Curry clowning the rest of the league. It was a year where he wasn't so much the best player on the court as he was Neo navigating through the matrix. Above is a collection of Steph's best clownings, as determined by a very scientific process.*

5. Clowning the Pistons Logo

Context is important here. You might say, Who cares about a random deep three against the Detroit Pistons and while we're on the subject do the Pistons actually still exist? Both legitimate questions that I will answer here. First, the Pistons still exist. They had the honor of being the first team swept by LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the playoffs this year. As for who cares about a deep three? Six whole seconds had elapsed on the shot clock before Curry just decided to fire it up from the logo with over three minutes left in the first quarter. No need to get closer, or work the ball around. The Pistons logo was close enough for Steph to let it rip and start backing up before it even got close to the rim.

4. Andrew Bogut Steps in as Surrogate Clowner

We've grown accustomed to Steph celebrating, or at least letting the entire arena know that the shot is going in well before it actually has, but Steph hired an assistant this year. After a bit of a scramble for a loose ball, Andrew Bogut was able to tip it to Curry, who was all alone for an entire glacial age. As soon as Curry caught the ball, Bogut ran up the court with his finger raised, celebrating the shot that had not even been taken yet. Curry had so much time he actually was able to dribble and step around the celebrating Bogut and, naturally, bury the shot. It's one thing to be entirely confident in your own abilities, but to inspire that level of confidence in teammate—before he's even seen the trajectory of the shot—is a whole other level.

3. James Harden Never Had a Chance

I struggled with this one because, as I said earlier, context matters. James Harden is not what you would call a "competent defender." So, making James Harden look silly or taking advantage of him doesn't have the same grab that, say, putting Kawhi Leonard on skates does. But this is just so very filthy, and at the same time so very pretty. Curry started a fast break against the Rockets with a steal on the baseline and as he headed up court Harden, amazingly, stepped right in his path. So many things could have gone wrong for the offensive player in this situation, but Curry not only eluded any contact with Harden (and so gracefully); he fired a behind-the-back pass on the money to Andre Iguodala, setting up an easy lay-in for Leandro Barbosa.

2. Oh, Lou Williams, You Poor Sap

Steph Curry made Lou Williams leap into the Warriors bench with an almost imperceptible ball fake. Williams had a better chance of defending Luke Walton on the sideline than he did Curry. I could watch it for days.

1. Roasting the Defensive Player of the Year

Again, context matters. Kawhi Leonard is no slouch and he is your reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Obviously, winning an award doesn't make you infallible, but to see Curry make mincemeat of a highly regarded player, and to do it so easily, is something to behold. Perhaps because he is such a good defender, Leonard had a heightened awareness and sensitivity to Curry's every move. Curry initially lost Leonard, without the ball, with a quick first step and then a quicker back step to get behind the three-point line. Then when he actually did get the ball, Curry sent Leonard lunging with a pump fake, freeing up an open three-pointer that he, naturally, buried. Curry's ability to penetrate and shoot are equally feared and that is how the NBA's best scorer is able to so effortlessly clown its best defender.

*As chosen by me.