Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was named the 2023-24 NBA Clutch Participant of the Yr on Thursday evening, ending forward of Chicago Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan and Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Curry, 36, completed with essentially the most clutch factors scored (189) within the league this season.
In response to ESPN Stats & Data, Golden State performed in additional clutch video games (48) than every other crew within the league as nicely. Moreover, Curry has led the NBA in 3-pointers eight completely different seasons throughout his 15-year profession. The ten-time All-Star additionally hit a league-high 357 3s in 74 video games performed this season.
“You’ve bought to have the ability to take care of failure,” Curry mentioned. “You need to be OK with the shot you miss, and have a brief reminiscence with it. I don’t know if something clicked apart from you understand how a lot time you’ve put into the sport and with that comes deserved confidence of, ‘OK, I’m prepared for no matter second you end up in, or no matter shot it is advisable to take.’
The whole voting outcomes for the 2023-24 Kia NBA Clutch Participant of the Yr. pic.twitter.com/vAEzGmiZS3
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 25, 2024
“Everyone remembers the highlights and what-not, however there’s loads of photographs that you simply miss the place you’re like, ‘Yeah, that was a superb one I ought to have taken, and you progress onto the subsequent.’ You need to have a little bit amnesia in-built there, and that’s the one means you may come again with that sort of confidence.”
Curry completed with 45 first-place votes and 298 complete factors, whereas DeRozan (34 first-place votes, 272 factors) positioned second, and Gilgeous-Alexander (11 first-place votes, 160 factors) ranked a distant third.
Denver Nuggets heart and prime MVP candidate Nikola Jokic was fourth. New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was fifth, and 11 different gamers obtained a minimum of one vote.
Stephen Curry wins 2023-24 NBA Clutch Participant of the Yr over DeMar DeRozan with 45 first-place votes
Throughout an interview with TNT earlier than Thursday evening’s playoff video games, Curry was requested about his disappointment in having to observe the playoffs after the Warriors misplaced to the Sacramento Kings within the play-in match final week.
“I imply, the unhappy half was simply lacking three wins. … You’re taking a look at [and saying], ‘OK, we’re down 0-1 and we are able to discover a technique to gameplan to get again within the collection,’” Curry mentioned. “Clearly, early within the 12 months we had a variety of missteps and absences, however you notice we’re not that far off, even after staying at this peak for thus lengthy.
“There’s some tweaks, we all know. Once you lose, you must look your self within the mirror and say, ‘What can we do to get higher? What holes can we fill?’ … We’re going to determine that out over the summer time.”
DeRozan, 34, is the one participant to be a finalist for the award in back-to-back seasons. The award debuted for the 2022-23 season. The Bulls star completed second to Kings guard De’Aaron Fox in final 12 months’s voting.
Stephen Curry is the 2023-24 Kia NBA Clutch Participant of the Yr!
Curry completed first in factors (189), made subject targets (59) and made 3-pointers (32) within the clutch this season (final 5 minutes of a recreation inside 5 factors).#NBAAwards | #KiaClutch | @Kia pic.twitter.com/XtVs30QdFc
— NBA (@NBA) April 25, 2024
Chicago performed within the third-most clutch video games within the league this 12 months (44). Plus, DeRozan led his crew to a 27-17 report, the league’s sixth-best successful share in these video games. He completed second in complete factors within the clutch (182).
Gilgeous-Alexander, 25, led the Thunder to the highest seed within the Western Convention. Oklahoma Metropolis recorded the fifth-best successful share (.632) and shot 58% in clutch moments.
With a median age of 23.4 years, the Thunder turned the youngest No. 1 seed in NBA historical past. The earlier report was set by the Phoenix Suns (25.2 years) within the 2004-05 season.
Oklahoma Metropolis hadn’t completed as the highest seed for the reason that 2012-13 season and hadn’t been to the playoffs for the reason that 2019-20 season. The Thunder went from successful 24 video games two seasons in the past to now having the very best report within the Western Convention.