BOSTON, United States —
Stephen Curry has
built up an extensive catalog of accolades, honors, scoring records and
personal milestones during his glittering NBA Finals career.
اضافة اعلان
But as the stardust settled on his virtuoso 43-point
display on Friday, many were left convinced they’d just witnessed the greatest
performance of them all by the Golden State Warriors superstar.
The 34-year-old shrugged off a sore foot to carry
the Warriors to a 107-97 victory on the road against the
Boston Celtics,
squaring the best-of-seven series at 2-2 and yanking precious momentum back to
Golden State, who host two of the three remaining games in San Francisco.
Klay Thompson, Curry’s fellow sharpshooting “Splash
Brother” who has shared a court with the Warriors star for most of his career,
had no doubt about where Friday’s masterpiece deserved to be ranked.
“Probably No. 1,” Thompson said. “This was nearly a
must-win game, and to go out there and shoot as efficiently as he did, and grab
10 rebounds and they were attacking him on defense.
“His conditioning is second-to-none in this league.”
The Warriors’ Draymond Green was similarly effusive,
hailing Curry’s white-hot competitive nature.
“Put us on his back. Willed us to win. Came out and
showed why he’s one of the best players to ever play this game and why this
organization has been able to ride him to so much success,” Green said.
“Absolutely incredible.”
Thompson said Curry was “one of the most resilient,
toughest guys I’ve ever played with.”
“The way defenses guard him, they are constantly
grabbing, and he just continues to play. He don’t make much of it. He just
continues to do what he does.
“It just says a lot about his toughness and his
competitive nature and what it truly means to be a winner.”
Curry, the
NBA’s all-time leader for three-point
shooting, made 7-of-14 from beyond the arc on Friday during what was the second
40-point NBA Finals game of his career.
‘Just stunning’
Warriors coach Steve Kerr,
meanwhile, paid tribute to Curry’s physical conditioning.
“Just stunning,” Kerr said afterwards. “The
physicality out there is pretty dramatic. I mean, Boston’s got the best defense
in the league.
“Huge and powerful at every position, and for Steph
to take that — that kind of pressure all game long and still be able to defend
at the other end when they are coming at him. ...
“I think this is the strongest physically he’s ever
been in his career, and it’s allowing him to do what he’s doing.”
Stars across the NBA lined up to lavish praise on
Curry on Friday.
“Chef is insane!!!,” wrote LeBron James on Twitter,
referring to Curry by his popular nickname. Philadelphia 76ers star
Joel Embiid said simply: “AMAZING.”
Curry meanwhile declined to comment on where he
ranked Friday’s masterclass in his collection of signature performances.
“I don’t rank my performances,” he said. “Just win
the game.
“It means everything knowing the sense of urgency we
had to have tonight to win on the road and keep some life in the series, get
home-court advantage back and try to create some momentum our way.”
Green, meanwhile, said he could sense Curry was
quietly girding himself for an epic performance in the days since the Warriors’
game three defeat in Boston on Wednesday.
“He wasn’t letting us lose. That’s what it boils
down to,” Green said.
“You hear all the noise for a day or so, and I could
tell in his demeanor the last couple of days, even after game three, that he
was going to come out with that type of fire.
“And he did, and we were all able to follow it.”
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