Curry or Durant? It’s a toss-up

As the debate rages on who deserved to win the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, several Filipino basketball experts chipped their cents on the issue, but still failed to resolve which between Warriors teammates Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant should have won the honor.

It was a tie between and Curry and Durant among the basketball officials and coaches interviewed by the Daily Tribune yesterday shortly after Golden State beat Cleveland, 108-85, on Friday in Ohio (Saturday in Manila) in Game Four of their best-of-seven NBA Championship Series.

Durant was named the Finals MVP for the second straight year of their back-to-back championship conquest, making him the third player to achieve the feat in the last 10 years after Lebron James when he was still playing for the Miami Heat (2012 and 2013) and the recently retired Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers (2009 and 2010).

Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner Willie Marcial said he thinks the NBA should have picked Curry, whom he tagged as the magnetizing force that kept the Warriors glued throughout the season and in the short Finals.

“Curry is an overall player,” Marcial said. “He was the leader that brought them to the Finals and to the NBA championship. There is no doubt he played MVP numbers for the Warriors in the Finals.”

Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes, however, disagreed:

“It’s Durant by far because he won the critical game,” Reyes said. “It was Durant who won the critical game– which was Game 3– for the Warriors.”

“In game 4, even when Curry scored all those points, Durant had a triple double. When Durant scored all those points in Game 3, Curry didn’t have a triple double. It’s Durant by far,” Reyes reiterated.

Former champion player Ronnie Magsanoc, now an assistant coach for Meralco in the PBA and a member of the league’s 25 Greatest Players, has a different take on the friendly rivalry, however.

“Give both of them the MVP Award,” Magsanoc said. “Both of them worked hard to win the NBA crown. If we are to be asked, what’s wrong with giving them a share of the Finals MVP trophy?”

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio, meanwhile, is not convinced Curry and Durant should own the trophy.

For him, Warriors rival LeBron James should have been given the honor.

“I’m not an expert but normally, it comes from the winning team. I appreciate that without Lebron, the Cavs wouldn’t even be in the Finals. It’ s a toss-up between him and Durant,” Panlilio said.

“But I don’t think it happened in the NBA, except for once in Jerry West long time ago. It’s very tough for a losing team to have the NBA Finals MVP. But to me, maybe LeBron would have been another MVP from the losing finalist,” Panlilio added.

Panlilio, however, said if the choices are only between Curry and Durant, he would choose both.

“I think Game 3 was the key when KD exploded. Maybe because of that. They’re (Durant and Curry) actually both talented. They’re both Finals MVPs,” he closed.

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