Steph enjoys battles against OKC after securing another big win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Stephen Curry is already well known for his incredible skills on a basketball court, and he is known for demonstrating his athletic prowess on the golf course on several occasions.
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After all, Curry was great as a closer for Golden State on Sunday in Oklahoma City. The two-time NBA MVP scored eight of his season-high 36 points in the fourth quarter and made several key plays down the stretch to help the Warriors hand the Thunder their first home loss of the season. season in a 127-116 victory at the Paycom Center.
Not that Curry hasn’t done it before, especially in OKC. He has a history of crushing the spirits of Thunder fans for years and was just the latest chapter in his book of favorite places to play.
“I like it,” Curry said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Warriors Postgame Live” after Sunday’s win. “The cool thing is, over the course of many years, there’s only been a few years where we and OKC haven’t been very relevant in the Western Conference. But for the most part, it’s always been a battle and a chore here. So you look forward to it. It’s great energy, the fans are great, their team is great.
“And it’s obviously great to get a win.”
For what seems like the umpteenth time in his illustrious NBA career, Curry shredded the Thunder like a block of cheese. He dropped a game-high 36 points in 36 minutes and had seven assists and five rebounds.
Curry would have had more if one of the referees hadn’t missed a flagrant foul against the Thunder after the Warriors sharpshooter made one of the seven 3-pointers he made.
“Steph was unbelievable,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Great pace. The impact he had with his passing – even when he wasn’t shooting, he was dragging defenders with him and that opened up the whole offense.
On a night when Golden State got big games from Jonathan Kuminga and DeAnthony Melton, it was evident that Curry was still the man driving the Warriors’ wagon.
Just as quickly, Golden State went from a team that many thought would struggle to make the play-in game to a team that is now considered a serious contender in the Western Conference.
That his latest exploits came against the Thunder is certainly no surprise. Before Sunday, Curry averaged 26.7 in 46 career games against Oklahoma City, his third-best mark against any NBA team.
This might have been one of the toughest Thunder teams Curry has faced, even though OKC lost its starting center, Chet Holmgren, to an injury early in the game.
Before that, the Thunder were one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. They had a collective defensive rating of 97.3 and had only allowed one player to score more than 25 points against them this season.
Until Curry came to town.
Curry and the Warriors played so well early that Kerr had hoped he could give his point guard some extra rest in the fourth quarter. Those plans had to be scrapped after the Thunder cut a 30-point lead to 114-108.
After a Jonathan Kuminga dunk, Curry helped force a turnover then raced to the opposite end of the court, faked a pump on Lugentz Dort then sank a sidestep 3-pointer with 2 minutes left, Curry also made a pair of free throws with 53 seconds left to help seal the deal.
“It looked like it was going to be a night where we could keep it under 30 minutes again, and then obviously OKC made that big run to start the fourth,” Kerr said. “Steph did a great job of coming back and shutting it down when it got a little dicey.”
