Warriors’ Stephen Curry wins NBA Clutch Player of the Year award

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry won the NBA’s second Clutch Player of the Year award Thursday.

Curry beat out DeMar DeRozan of the Chicago Bulls and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to win the honor, which was created last season as an additional season-long award to go with Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.

The NBA defines “clutch time” as the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the game is within five points.

Curry, 36, led the NBA in clutch points this season, scoring 189. DeRozan was second with 182 clutch points, though his average of 4.6 per game was higher than Curry’s 4.4. (The Bulls guard also played the most minutes in clutch time among the three finalists at 191.8.) Gilgeous-Alexander scored 112, ranking seventh among players who appeared in at least 15 games.

The 15-year veteran earned 45 first-place votes, finishing ahead of DeRozan’s 34 and Gilgeous-Alexander’s 11. Also getting first-place votes in balloting were the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (4), New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (2) and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks (1).

For the season, Curry averaged 26.4 points, 5.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds, while shooting 41 percent from 3-point range for a Golden State squad that finished 10th in the Western Conference standings after losing their play-in tournament matchup with the Sacramento Kings.

Curry adds this season’s Clutch Player honors to a personal trophy case that includes two NBA MVP awards, an NBA Finals MVP, 10 All-Star bids (and All-Star Game MVP) and four NBA championships.