Steph Curry is back.
Actually, in his words, he’s "so f---ing back."
Coming off the bench in the Warriors’ dominant 126-106 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series, Curry went off for 34 points on 12-of-17 shooting and added four assists, three rebounds, one steal and one block. He drilled 5 of 10 attempts from downtown and finished with a plus-32 rating.
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Oh, and he did this all in just 23 minutes.
Per Stathead, Curry is the only player in NBA history to score at least 30 points while playing in 23 minutes or less. That’s right. The only one to do it.
Expand it out to 25 minutes on the floor, and only five players have poured in 30 or more points in a playoff game. Tom Heinsohn of the Boston Celtics did it first with 31 points in 25 minutes in a 1962 playoff game against the Philadelphia Warriors. Since then, only Kirk Hinrich (2005), Jason Terry (2011), Paul George (2020) and Curry have accomplished the feat.
Warriors fans have witnessed countless Curry microwave games, but Game 2 might have been his finest work. Monday’s masterpiece was the first time Curry has posted 30-plus points in 25 minutes or less in the playoffs or regular season.
Curry scored five points in the first quarter before erupting for 21 over the second and third frames. He was a big contributor in Golden State's explosive 44-point third quarter that put the game on ice.
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It was the most points scored by the Warriors in a third quarter of a playoff game since Steve Kerr was hired as the team's head coach in 2015. For reference, Monday’s win was Kerr’s 107th career postseason game leading the Dubs’ bench.
Not bad for the Warriors’ sixth man.
