The Golden State Warriors have two NBA Championships in two years and after that any other award probably feels like an afterthought.
Still, there was more recognition at the NBA Awards on Monday night at Basketball City in New York.
While Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder picked up his long overdue award for MVP for a historic season in which he averaged a triple-double, Curry and teammate Draymond Green received a little more hardware of their own.
Curry and Green picked up Assist of the Year for a ridiculous play from December 6, 2016 against the Indiana Pacers in a 142-106 blowout.
After Zaza Pachulia contested and won a jumpball, Green launched a perfect pass into the hands of Curry. Resisting the option for the easy layup, the point guard flipped a pass behind his back in midair for a Kevin Durant alley-oop finish.
It's a play that demonstrates much about the qualities of the 2017 Warriors—right down to Curry's unselfishness in giving up the points to Durant.
Green then demonstrated his versatility by winning Defensive Player of the Year ahead of Rudy Gobert and Kawhi Leonard.
Gobert finished second in voting, five votes ahead of Leonard who was Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016.
Green has been engaged in a light-hearted slanging match with LeBron James since the NBA Finals finished but he kept his acceptance speech straight, thanking Kevin Garnett who gave out the award, the NBA, God, his mother, father, family, his coaches, the Golden State Warriors organization and his teammates.
"This isn't an individual award," Green said. "There's five guys out there on the floor at a time and I can't do this all by myself so I appreciate them. With K.D. [Kevin Durant] and Klay [Thompson] not making the NBA All Defensive team, I appreciate everything they do."
Defense and offense are team efforts, even if you have otherwordly talent in your organization. Green and the Warriors know that and it's why they will be favorites to repeat their championship-winning season in 2018.
Uncommon Knowledge
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