BOSTON — Stephen Curry struggled Friday night, at least by his standards. It would have been a career night for just about anyone else on the court.
Curry fought for every single inch of hardwood he got, but the Golden State Warriors star still found a way to pour in 38 points in the Warriors’ 124-119 win over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
The Celtics stuck Avery Bradley and Evan Turner in Curry’s back pocket the entire night and made Curry run like hell to fight through coverage and get through multiple screens. On seemingly every possession, Curry could be seen starting on one wing, running down the baseline and back out to the other wing using multiple picks to try to find the slightest bit of separation.
Many times he didn’t find that separation — as evidenced by his 9-for-27 shooting — but when he was able to get even a sliver of space, he made the Celtics pay. Curry still knocked down six 3-pointers, and he fought through the relentless defense to find a way to earn 14 free throws — and hit all of them.
“In my opinion, he’s the best player that this game has right now,” Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said. “He can score in so many different ways. They did a phenomenal job on him, and he scored 38.”
Curry’s finest moment might have come in the final minute of the fourth quarter. The Warriors ran a set play for him, and the Celtics couldn’t quite fight through the screen. Curry got just enough room and buried a deep 3-pointer that put Golden State ahead by two at the time.
That shot alone was enough to make you forget about the 18 missed shots and eight turnovers.
“I just try to stay relentless and stay on the attack,” Curry said. “If I have a couple of turnovers or I miss a couple of shots, there’s always the next play. … I feel like I have a pretty large gas tank to keep running through those games and I’m going to keep running on the court and keep running off screens and keep attacking and keep looking for shots.”
That’s the type of mentality that separates Curry from just about everyone else in the NBA. Well, that and the actual talent to make those shots and build that confidence.
“The players that are true superstars in this league, all you can try to do is make it tough for them,” Walton added. “They’re going to get their matters no matter what, you’ve just gotta try and make it tough for them. And Boston made it tough on Steph.”
Just not tough enough.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
