Steph made 'em chant "M-V-P!" at The Garden.
After getting bullied by Boston in Game 3, Steph Curry came out with his patented Big Wardell Energy that he can bust out in marquee moments. Friday night definitely qualified as a marquee moment.
Seventeen championship banners hang above the parquet hardwood in Boston. Before Friday night's game, the franchise issued white T-shirts with a blank 18th banner included. Celtics fans thought this would be the last home game of the year.
Steph said nope. He'll be back for Game 6.
They'll be talking about his Game 4 performance for decades. In Boston and San Francisco and everywhere in between. It might go down as the greatest game of his career. It has to be considered one of the finest all-time individual efforts in the Finals.
For one magic evening, Curry cast another spell on us all, dropping 43 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in a 107-97 Warriors win that will be remembered forever in Dubs lore.
Supernatural nights are part of the Curry experience. We've seen him go Wardell Mode in Finals games, in clinchers. But Friday night probably surpassed them all.
"I can't rate my performances," Curry said. "Just win the game."
Steph let everyone early that he was on a mission. Known for his smiley and kid-like nature, Curry showed a mean streak. After he knocked down a 30-footer with about two minutes left in the first quarter, Curry exploded, taking out his mouthguard and hurling expletives at no one in particular. Celtics coach Ime Udoka had to call a timeout because he didn't wanna see what happened next.
Steph stomped around the court and shouted at the crowd. The same ones who heckled the hell out of the Warriors, as expected.
Curry's really him, though.
"Felt like we just had to let everybody know that we were here tonight," Curry said. "Whether that's their crowd, their team, our team, whoever wants to see that energy and that fire, we feed off of that."
Draymond knew it was coming.
After the way the Warriors got wiped in Game 3, he saw a glint in Steph's eye.
"He wasn't letting us lose," Green said. "That's what it boils down to. You hear all the noise for a day or so, and I could tell in his demeanor the last couple days, even after Game 3, that he was going to come out with that type of fire. And he did, and we were all able to follow it."
The man can do more than just splash. He caused trouble in transition, hit some ooooweee step-back threes, adjusted to make floaters over the 14-foot-tall Robert Williams, got offensive rebounds and put back in traffic, and-one attempts. Dude did it all.
Perhaps his biggest bucket came with 1:42 left when he hit the 3-pointer and it got the “Bang!” treatment from announcer Mike Breen. That made it a six-point game and Golden State could taste victory.
Steph finished 14-of-26 from the field and 7-of-14 from 3-point range as his remarkable NBA Finals run continues. He’s now averaging 34.3 points per game with some eye-popping splits and became the first player in NBA Finals history to hit at least five 3-pointers in four consecutive Finals games.
"The heart on that man is incredible," Klay Thompson said.
In the clincher of the 2018 NBA Finals, Curry hit seven 3-pointers en route to 37 points as the Dubs busted out the brooms to sweep away LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. In Game 2 of that series he also hit nine 3-pointers and dropped 33 points. Curry scored 34 points with 10 assists and six rebounds in 2017 Game 5 against the Cavs to secure the title. His 37-point Game 5 of the 2015 NBA Finals was also huge for the franchise, as it put the Warriors on the brink of their first title with a 3-2 series lead. Curry's all-time Finals high of 47 points came in a 2019 Game 3 loss against the Toronto Raptors.
So, where would Klay rank this among Steph's Finals performances?
"Probably No. 1," Thompson said.
A small faction of Warriors fans were in The Garden, but even Boston had to bow down to his greatness Friday.
What’s remarkable is that Steve Kerr had the courage to bench Steph for the first 2:47 of the fourth quarter, after he just dropped 14 and was feeling it in the third. The Warriors didn’t get snakebit by the decision to get him some late rest, outscoring the Celtics 28-19 in the fourth quarter. Steph ended up playing 41 minutes.
"He was not happy," Kerr said. "But I felt pretty good about where we were."
Also, the foot's just fine.
Questions circled around Steph entering Friday after he sprained his left foot in Game 3. He suffered a similar sprain to the one he received after Celtics guard Marcus Smart dove for a loose ball on March 16. At this point, it's a pain-tolerance issue for Curry.
"For the most part, I didn't think about it," Curry said. "Like I don't know how to explain the pain. It's more so just when you're out there, you don't compensate or you don't -- it doesn't take up too much mental space in terms of feeling like I can do whatever I want to out on the court."
Just like the Game 2 victory, this one gives Golden State a sigh of relief. Plus the comfort of knowing the team is heading back to San Francisco to play in front of a juiced Chase Center crowd for Game 5. A win would bring them back to Boston, 48 minutes away from a chance to celebrate beneath all those banners. Two more wins would solidify their dynasty status with four rings in eight years.
He'll get "M-V-P!" chants again at Chase Center during his free-throw attempts in Game 5, but it will hit different. Two more Warriors wins and "STEPHEN CURRY" will be engraved on that NBA Finals MVP award. Two more wins.
Like a trophy, Game 4 of the 2022 NBA Finals belonged to Steph, though. It will always belong to Steph.
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