Go back five years and you probably couldn’t find a soul who was predicting Stephen Curry would one day be dictating playoff series in the NBA. Yet it has come to that, with Denver using physical punishment to stop the best shooter on the planet. It worked last night — Curry finished with only 15 points on 19 shots. But with the Warriors’ frustrations boiling over, I have no doubt Curry will respond, closing this one out back in the Bay in Game 6.
He’s quickly becoming the face of this postseason, securing a death grip on the “best shooter in the world” status through three-straight monster performances. Golden State’s sudden explosion was unexpected, and yet we still shouldn’t be all that surprised. Curry’s done this before.
As a sophomore at Davidson in 2007-08, Curry lit up college basketball, averaging 25.9 points and hitting 4.5 three-pointers a night before taking his game to another level in March Madness. As a No. 10 seed, the Wildcats needed all 40 points Curry gave them to advanced to the second round. Once there, he gave them 30 more points in a shocking four-point upset over No. 2-seeded Georgetown. The run continued all the way to the Elite Eight. Curry dropped at least 25 in each game.
Davidson eventually lost to No. 1 seed Kansas, and Curry incited enough tweener talk that he returned for one more year to prove himself as a legit point guard prospect (he answered every question as a junior, averaging 28.6 points and 5.6 assists). But Curry’s Tournament performance gave us our first taste of his ability to rise up when the stakes are highest. The Denver Nuggets really shouldn’t be surprised.
Is Curry one of the best guards in the NBA?
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