Of the Warriors’ 15 overtime points, Curry had a hand in 13 of them. He had six points and three assists in overtime, including a spoon-feed to David Lee with 31 seconds left, which put the Warriors up two and was the game’s biggest basket… Curry scored the team’s last eight points in regulation, and they were all must-haves. His jumper with six minutes left put the Warriors up one; His two foul shots with four-and-a-half minutes left tied the game at 84, and two more free throws 50 seconds later pulled Golden State within one. His foul-line jumper put the Warriors up 90-88 with 1:57 left. Taking Curry’s play back a little further, you’ll find that he had a hand in 16 of the Warriors’ last 17 points of the fourth quarter – 14 points and an assist in the last eight-plus minutes. He also had two steals in the final eight minutes of regulation. On top of all that, if you take a look at Curry’s opposite number, Darren Collison, you’ll find that he didn’t play very well, to say the least. Collison finished with seven points on 2-for-11 shooting, five assists and five turnovers in 38 minutes. Now, all of that wasn’t Curry, of course, but some of it had to be.
Curry finished the night with 31 points, six rebounds, nine assists and two steals. Statistically, he has put up better numbers in the past. Statistics, however, can’t explain his poise and guidance down the stretch of this game. It doesn’t explain how he provided basket after basket when the team needed it the most. With no one to lean on for leadership, Curry took on that role and seemed to relish on the pressure-packed situations, really, for the first time in his career. We define the stars of the league by how they finish games, and Curry delivered. He has never shown that he can be that guy, but with the ball in his hands, he stopped standing around and watching in the corner. Instead, he made all the plays that mattered and never looked more engaged in doing so.
What I’m trying to get at is this: he played at a level that the numbers couldn’t quite explain, as good as they were. He played the type of game we are accustomed to seeing from someone like Chris Paul. Sometimes, all it takes is a single game for a player to realize his true potential. It was an eye-opening performance for the Baby-faced Assassin, and this may be the game that could help define who Curry is as a player in this league. It could, of course, also end up being one excellent game and nothing more. The Warriors are heavily invested in the sharp-shooter, so they’re certainly hoping for the former.