defiant Stephen Curry showed up in the final 17 minutes of what could be a season-defining win for the Golden State Warriors — a 132-126 overtime thriller on December 19.
After vanquishing their 2022 Finals nemesis Boston Celtics, this season’s no. 1 team, with his signature “moon” 3-pointer serving as the dagger, Curry pushed back on the “end of dynasty” narratives.
“It’s been like that for years now,” Curry said to end his postgame presser. “Even before we won the ’22 championship. They always find something to nitpick and that’s because there are expectations for us to win.”
Stephen Curry’s Approach
The talks about breaking up their dynasty core grew louder after a series of blown leads, their stars struggling, and then came Draymond Green‘s indefinite suspension.
“So you kind of take that in stride,” Curry said, “and for me, my approach is to dumb it down to what I said when we were in [Los Angeles] is just trying to figure out how to win a game at a time and give yourself some momentum, some confidence and some energy to get to a point… where you show as a team to be a serious threat to win a playoff series.”
“We’re nowhere near that. We’re just trying to win right now. So I kind of like it right here because it gives you a little bit of juice to stay locked in for 48 minutes at a time. It’s all cliches but it it really is a fun kind of way to approach the game because you feel a sense of urgency and you’re not really taking anything for granted. That’s what you saw [Tuesday night].”
Warriors’ Galvanizing Win
On Tuesday night, against the league’s top team, they showed the resilience that defined their dynasty.
Given up for dead after the Celtics zoomed to a 17-point third-quarter lead and with Curry nursing five fouls, the Warriors rose from the grave. After getting killed for blowing big leads, the Warriors came alive to enjoy life on the other end of the stick.
The galvanizing third straight win — their biggest of the season — revived their spirits.
“We’ve lost leads but the way we dug deep [Tuesday night] was a big morale booster and now you got to capitalize off of it,” Curry said.
The Warriors have a good chance to extend this winning streak with back-to-back home games on Friday and Saturday against lottery-bound teams Portland Trail Blazer and Washington Wizards.
A good warmup before they visit the defending champion Denver Nuggets on Christmas Day in the Mile High City.
Strength in Numbers
The Warriors are winning, not only on the back of Curry’s greatness but also because of the emergence of their young players under dire circumstances and Klay Thompson’s revival.
“Big deal,” Curry said of their latest win, “because of how we got it done. The guys that were on
the floor contributed. This was Trayce’s coming-out party and the way he impacted the game. JK offensively and defensively, just putting pressure on them. Klay [Thompson] hitting big shots. Everybody stepped up even Corey [Joseph] when I got in foul trouble, he came in and played solid for those six minutes and kept us afloat.”
Jackson-Davis notched his first double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. He also had two blocks, including a huge one on Celtics star Jaylen Brown in overtime.
Thompson pitched in 24 points to backstop Curry’s 33. It was Thompson’s fourth straight game scoring at least 24. Thompson is averaging 26.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 51% overall and 50% from deep over that span.
Jonathan Kuminga scored 17 points. Joseph contributed four points during his brief spell of the foul-troubled Curry in the third quarter. Moses Moody had 10 points off the bench. Chris Paul 9 points and 12 assists) and Dario Saric (11 points and 6 rebounds) provided leadership.
“So everybody stayed ready,” Curry said, “and the way that our season’s gone, you never really know how it’s going to look and every night’s a little different.”
Critics are quick to call the sun setting on the Warriors’ dynasty. But for a defiant Curry, it’s the spring of a different Warriors dynasty.