It is not supposed to happen like this.
When you’ve missed six playoff games with two injuries, you are supposed to grow tired and erratic during your first night back. But then, you are not Stephen Curry.
In one of the games that will define him for as long as he is remembered, Curry scored 40 points off the bench to lead his Golden State Warriors to a 132-125 overtime, comeback win over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 4 Monday.
Yes, he enabled Golden State to seize what should be a decisive 3-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series. Yes, his 37 minutes were almost as many as he had played throughout his injury-diminished 2016 postseason. And, yes, when he should have been at his least capable, Curry broke an NBA record — one that accounts for both the regular season and postseason — by scoring an NBA-record 17 points in the five-minute overtime.
Amazing? No, said Curry, though he had to think about it.
“I wouldn’t say amazed,” he said, and as he worked his way through his answer he appeared to be realizing what he had done. It was as if it had happened to him more than he had made it happen, but only for a moment. Because he is not like you.
Right now, there is no one in basketball quite like him, and so he was not going to refer to himself in awe. No, he was going to recognize that what looks to you like a kind of miracle is, for him, the plan.
“It’s just one of those moments, standing out there, realizing what just happened, it’s a pretty good feeling,” he said. “It’s the playoffs, and everything’s heightened. The intensity, the ramifications of a win or a loss. So I’m pleased that I had enough in the tank to finish the game, and it finally clicked when it mattered most. And definitely proud of how we played as a team. But amazed? I think I have too much confidence in what I can do to go out there and play well. This is what I play for.”
If it were you, the inclination would be to focus on the soreness of your right knee, because your sprained MCL has not fully healed. (So admitted Curry late Monday night.) You would also be surprised in some way that you could miss your first nine attempts from 3-point range and then, over the final 9:34 of regulation and overtime, shoot 5-for-7 from there as if the rust, stress and physical uncertainty amount to nothing when your team needs you most.
Curry, unlike most everyone else, is driven by the yin-and-yang friction of arrogance and humility. What does it amount to in the end? For Curry it is nothing more and nothing less than a “pretty good feeling,” as if this historic performance is — for him — no more satisfying than a par-saving putt in a friendly weekend golf tournament.
Curry was making his first appearance since April 24 in Game 3 of the first round against the Houston Rockets. That’s when he suffered the sprained knee after slipping on a wet spot on the Toyota Center court 19 minutes into his recovery from the ankle sprain that sidelined him in Game 1 of that series.
Early Monday evening, less than two hours before Game 4, Curry hit the court to test his knee and was greeted by a shrieking roar that could be heard in the hallway beneath the stands. It was like a Sunday afternoon in the Tiger Woods era, when the other golfers could hear by the reactions of his fans that he was doing something.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr had planned for Curry to work his way back in with 25 minutes or so in this game. But that idea changed with 1:36 remaining in the half. Curry’s backup, Shaun Livingston, made the unforgivable mistake of confronting referee Scott Foster not once but twice while using a poor choice of words to accuse him of neglect.
Livingston, angry that a foul had not been called when he was hit in the head while finishing a layup moments earlier, was ejected by Foster instantaneously. The Warriors’ extra burden that would now have to be borne by Curry.
“It put us in a tough spot,” said Kerr, “especially with Steph’s comeback, or whatever you want to call it.”
The Blazers had already defined the terms of whatever it was that Curry was hoping — sorry, planning — to accomplish by running out to a 16-2 lead. It was everything that a young overachieving team could have wanted: a home game with a chance to steal another win and tie up the series with the defending champs. Yet it was never enough.
The Warriors had done well enough without Curry — they went 4-2 during his two playoff absences — but in Game 4 they played as if gasping for his return. Klay Thompson, who had scored 35 points in Game 2, was 1-for-7 at halftime. Draymond Green, who had a triple-double in Game 1 and 37 points in Game 3, generated nine first-half points off three shots. The only Warrior in double-figures at halftime was Curry, and only then in the final minute.
“When you miss three weeks, it’s really weird walking back on the court, like with the crowd out there going crazy and that competitive atmosphere again,” Curry said. “I was just trying to get my bearings straight, and try to make some plays, and try to get a rhythm. And it took 48 minutes. And things finally clicked.”
For the longest time he and Portland’s Damian Lillard appeared to be mirroring one another, for better and for worse. Lillard shot poorly (9-for-30 and 5-for-18 on 3-pointers), yet attacked relentlessly for his 13 free throws, 10 assists and 36 points overall. C.J. McCollum (24 points), Al-Farouq Aminu (18 points and 13 rebounds) and Mason Plumlee (12 points and 15 rebounds) were providing all they could. But Portland ultimately was going to need the kind of performance from Lillard that the Warriors got from Curry.
Curry’s midrange game was solid and his handle was typically spectacular as he skateboarded around one defender before turning his back on another to feed a dunk to Green. Later, he corralled a Blazers turnover and took off for the baseline, screeching to a cartoonish halt that tested his knee before making a pop-a-shot jumper over Plumlee. But he was also airballing an early 3-pointer while demonstrating in this moment of vulnerability just how hard it is to do what he does.
The Blazers held the lead for most of the game, but never by enough to control the game itself. With 9:01 remaining in regulation, Curry landed at last a long-arcing, step-back jumper over Aminu. Although it was just worth two points, Curry pointed to his wrist and shook his head as if complaining about the time that had been squandered. Some four minutes later, finally, he was sidestepping to his left to drill his first successful 3-pointer.
The final three minutes of the fourth were tight as Lillard and Curry forgot about their own miseries and focused instead on beating one another. The winning passes or shots of the one were answered by the other until, inside the final minute of regulation, Curry drove baseline to find Barnes for the equalizing 3-pointer.
“That’s going to get lost in the shuffle,” said Kerr of Barnes, whose recent shooting struggles ended abruptly.
Curry had missed a runner at the end of regulation that appeared to provide him with the last needed bit of focus and resolve. He began the OT with a short set-shot banker. He twice pulled the Warriors even — with a pick-and-roll 3-pointer and then with a put-back that he rebounded in between Plumlee and McCollum. It was when Curry turned a Lillard turnover into a breakaway layin that this series changed for good.
Curry was making a deep 3-pointer from the top, regaining his swagger as walked away, then popping in another 3-pointer while tap-dancing around Aminu. During this extraordinary run, it was easy to forget that he had ever been injured. It was as if nothing mattered apart from his shot-making, which is not the first time you may have felt that way while watching Curry.
“The obvious answer would be Michael Jordan,” said Kerr, who could not help but recall his former teammate when he was asked to put Curry into perspective. “Steph does it so differently from Michael. I guess the similarity is just the awe-inspiring plays, the jaw-dropping plays that bring the house down even on the road. I remember those noises on the road when Michael would have a game like that.”
Just like that the Warriors make sense again. Green (21 points, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and seven blocks) and Thompson (23 points and stifling defense on Lillard) were able to focus on defending and complementing their best player. “I got some great screens down the stretch,” Curry said. “When you continue to come off and get good looks, I’ve got to do my job too.”
He was acting as if he had seen the unexpected coming. But then, in that strange way that only Curry can conjure, you had too.
Ian Thomsen has covered the NBA since 2000. You can e-mail him here or follow him on Twitter.
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