Sore knee and all, Steph Curry reminds us what greatness looks like
In five minutes of overtime basketball, Steph Curry silenced his critics, hushed the doubters and showed everyone what basketball greatness looks like. Even with a sore knee.
By
Bill Reiter
•
5 min read
WARRIORS TAKE 3-1 SERIES LEAD | CURRY'S RECORD OVERTIME OUTBURST
PORTLAND, Ore. -- His greatness held in check by injury, his dominance diminished by rust for four quarters, his impending Most Valuable Player award criticized by so many playing the contrarian. This was the context of the moment as Stephen Curry, back from injury and mired in a 2-for-13 3-point shooting night, stepped onto the court for overtime.
The doubters, the critics, the record books, the Trail Blazers, those first inefficient and unimpressive 48 minutes of basketball in Game 4 of this series -- Curry demolished every last one of them.
What transpired over five stunning minutes of basketball was nothing short of all-time greatness. Literally. Curry's 17-overtime points, a playoff record, pushed the Warriors to a 132-125 win, a 3-1 series lead and a historic reminder that they are playing with the best basketball player on earth, bar none.
"There's very few games," coach Steve Kerr said, "where you sort of take a moment during the game and say, 'Wow, this is something.' And tonight was one of them. I turned to Luke Walton a couple times and said, 'Can you believe this?'"
None of us could. What Curry did went beyond greatness, and into that realm that few -- Jordan, Magic, Bird -- have occupied. And it came, in ways somewhat like Jordan's flu game, during a pressure-packed point with his team in a corner and the world, all of us, thinking the physical limitations on Curry this day were stronger than his will and his greatness.
How wrong that was.
Curry, who had not played in a basketball game in two weeks, had been all rust and awkwardness for regulation: 10-for-25 from the field, four turnovers, too many bricked 3s -- he missed 11 of them in regulation -- to register this was the same guy who'd unofficially won his second MVP award earlier in the day. Curry admitted afterward there had been talk of holding him out until Game 5, that there was still soreness in that knee, and that he was not 100 percent. And it showed.
Until overtime.
Until one of the most incredible basketball performances we've ever seen.
Until Curry exploded.
A bank shot to start his overtime. A 3, as beautiful and true as we've come to expect, and suddenly that electricity and dread occupying Portland's home turf and its loving, frenzied, desperate crowd. Then an offensive rebound -- Curry seemed to materialize in the paint from nowhere -- and the floater that followed it. The tension, the greatness, the feeling Curry had flipped some hidden switch and gone from a guy on the mend to the man unequivocally running things. A running layup. A 3. Another 3. Moda Center rocked and rollicked and tried to push its tough-minded, incredibly impressive Trail Blazers team to another win against the mighty Warriors.
But Curry was on another plane. This was greatness. There was no stopping it.
Afterward, with time to process what had just unfolded and asked if he'd ever seen anything like this before, Kerr reflected.
"The obvious answer would be Michael Jordan," Kerr said. "And 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 same sounds when Michael did it."
Sounds of heartbreak. Of incredulousness. Of, finally, acceptance. Of not just being beaten by greatness but being taken in by it at the same time.
"Remarkable," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "It's a hell of a performance."
A lot of things created the opportunity for Curry to do what he did Monday night. Harrison Barnes, who had struggled with his shot all night, hit a huge 3 on a beautiful pass from Curry toward the end of regulation. Curry himself, who hit his first 3-pointer of the night late in the fourth quarter, missed an 11-footer that would have been a buzzer-beater and deprived us of his overtime exploits. And Portland, despite a tough shooting night from Lillard, grinded on until their star turned in a 12-point quarter worthy of his ascending place in the game.
When overtime began, several things felt possible. A Warriors win fueled by Draymond Green or Klay Thompson, or a collective Warriors team effort -- team defense and a hero emerging from the collection of guys in that Golden State locker room overflowing with confidence. Or a Portland win behind Lillard, who had seemed to find his groove, and a 2-2 tie heading back to Oakland.
But Curry to the rescue? Curry single-handedly taking utter control?
Even though he'd hit some shots in the fourth quarter, it seemed so unlikely. Silly even. He was well past what had turned out to be his planned-for minutes of around 25. His rust had been evident, even ugly, to see. His moment, it felt, would come later in this series. Even he admitted afterward that playing at all in this game had been far from certain.
"There was some conversations about waiting to Game 5, and honestly there was some soreness left and I wasn't 100 precent," Curry said.
But Curry is different, special. Even by the standards of MVPs. He did not wait. All of those struggles leading up to this seemed to be the compression for the jewel of a game he was about create. And then he took over, and dominated, and dazzled. And in doing so offered a reminder for all the talking-heads and smarter-than-the-game second guessers: Steph Curry is the world's best player. He earned every ounce of that MVP award. And If LeBron James wants that mantle again he's going to have to come and take it.
And to do that, he'll have to deal with player in Steph Curry who -- hobbled, rusty, having missed his first 10 3-point shots, in a hostile road playoff game under the strictest of scrutiny and less than 100 percent -- turned it all into a performance worthy of all the praise we have heaped upon him.
Kerr bought up Jordan. And someday, if this continues, perhaps those comparisons will stretch beyond one magical night in Portland.
