Yes, by traditional standards, he wasn't the best player in any of his Finals matchups. Some might say he wasn't even the best on his own team in two of them.

But there's something unquantifiable about the way his shooting and his ability to shoot from anywhere on the court at an elite level enhances his team's offense.

Everyone here isn't big into analytics, but Stephs's on/off numbers are mind-blowing, especially for a player who is under 6'5" and not a tremendous two-way player.

When Durant was playing for them, and in the limited number of games, he played alongside Klay and Dray, the team performed at a 55-win level. But when Steph played without KD, the team played at a 60 or 65-win level.

Or like last year when the team had the 10th ranked offense when Steph played but would have been dead last if the team played as they did when he was off the floor.

That being said, there is something oddly 'dependant' on how he plays.

Part of what makes his shooting so impactful is that he's streaky in a good way. A team can be locked in and then lose focus for three or four possessions and the game can swing 8 to 10 points. It's like his makes have psychological intimidation to them.

But the damage his game can do to an opponent is only felt when he's hitting at an elite level. Which is hard to do, period. Much less during a Finals run where defenses can play more physically and key in on whatever weaknesses they detect.

There's something deflating about watching a team consistently put the ball in the net, even if it's only worth 2 rather than 3. Even if Steph is hitting, he's still missing 6 out of 10, rather than only 4 out of 10 for LeBron or KD or MJ.

But when he's locked in, there's nothing like watching him hit three after three.

He should have won the Finals MVP that Iggy got. I think Zach Lowe put it best when he asked how Iggy could win the MVP for his defense against LeBron if LeBron arguably could have won the award while losing the series? I think Steph put up 26 a game in that series.

In an odd way, the fact he lost that Finals MVP is part of the uniqueness of his shooting. Yes, he scored 26 but his 3PT% dropped to 38%, whereas his next lowest percentage for a series was a little over 40%. And in the series before, against Houston, he shot over 50% from 3.

He played great, but not as well as we think he is capable of playing. He's being knocked for being good rather than otherworldly as he is at times.

To be fair, LeBron and even KD do improve their numbers in the postseason. So maybe while Steph was the Warriors' best player during their run, he wasn't their closer. And that's likely why he doesn't have a signature Finals moment like LeBron does in '16 or KD in the '17 Finals run.

For as much as I like Steph, it's hard to think of someone as small as he is, that doesn't impact defense on an individual level like LeBron or MJ or Kareem as a top 10 player. But he may have had an impact on basketball like a top 10 player.

It's just hard to compare apples to oranges and it seems that what Steph is relative to other legends. It'll be interesting to look back on his career after it's done and make sense of it.