THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Wednesday, May 11, 2016
So there had never been a unanimous Most Valuable Player in the NBA until this season.
Nobody had been that great up until this year.
That was, until Golden State Warrior point guard Stephen Curry had a season that’s second to none.
WHETHER OR not that leads to a second straight NBA title in June remains to be seen, but when the league announced that Curry had become the first unanimous selection — ever — it shouldn’t have came as a surprise.
His team won a record 73 games this season to earn home court advantage in a loaded Western Conference. The team played so well that San Antonio — which won 67 games this season — isn’t talked about for just how good of a season the Spurs had.
Then, after being out for two weeks with a sprained knee ligament, Curry showed fans just why he should and is worthy of such an honor, scoring 40 points in an overtime win against Portland to give his team a 3-1 series lead. Michael Jordan wasn’t a unanimous MVP, nor Magic Johnson or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Curry, who didn’t even start the game, had to play more minutes due to the starting point guard (Shaun Livingston) being ejected before halftime, scored 17 of his team’s 21 points in the five-minute overtime.
That’s right, 17 points in five minutes.
From a guy that wasn’t even sure was even going to play in the game.
Granted, it wasn’t Willis Reed in Game 7 of the NBA Finals playing on a broken leg, but it was a pretty special night. Without him, Golden State is tied with Portland 2-2 and traveling back to Oakland just hoping not to lose a for a third-straight time.
If he plays half as well the remainder of the playoffs, Curry won’t be denied another championship this year.
A FEW hours up the road on Interstate 5 on Monday, Seattle pitcher Felix Hernandez cemented himself as the team’s all-time wins leader — passing Jamie Moyer — with 146 after the team beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 at Safeco Field.
Earlier this season, Hernandez also passed Randy Johnson as the team’s strikeout leader.
Monday’s game wasn’t pretty at times, and if not for the heroics of Ketel Marte, who hit a three-run homer late in the game that proved to be the difference, it could have gone down as another one of those typical Mariner games where Felix pitches a great game, but he receives a no-decision because of a lack of runs.
At this point, it seems, this team is a little different that those in recent years.
Seattle entered the weekend with a lead in the American League West, something that the Mariners haven’t done in a while. Thanks to a good start — on the road at least — the Mariners are hanging around at the start of the season, whereas in previous years, they had to fight their way back in the final month of the season.
Felix has been the face of the Mariner franchise for years now, and is doing everything he can to live up to those lofty expectations that fans have for him.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.