Los Angeles: Stephen Curry returned from injury to deliver an overtime performance for the ages on Monday, scoring 17 points in the extra session to lift Golden State to a 132-125 win over Portland in game four of their playoff series.
Curry reminded everyone why he is the reigning league MVP and about to win it for a second year running, coming off the bench to finish with 40 points in 37 minutes of playing time as the Warriors moved to within one victory of the NBA Western Conference finals.
Curry, who sat out the past four post-season games with a knee injury, bagged all but four of Golden State’s overtime points as he outscored the Trail Blazers by himself in the extra session.
“It took me a while to get in the groove but it finally happened,” said Curry, who also had nine rebounds and eight assists.
Curry finished the season with even better numbers than he did a year ago, leading the league in points per game (30.1), steals (169) and three-point field goals (402), all career highs.
In fact, Curry’s three-point total is the most ever in league history, shattering his record of 286 from a year ago.
Warrior coach Steve Kerr started his news conference Monday by joking, “Steph will start on Wednesday night”, referring to game five.
Kerr said he expected to have to limit Curry’s minutes on Monday to about 25. But after watching the way Curry rallied the troops, he threw that plan out the window.
“The guy has played one game in three weeks,” Kerr said. “I expected a lot of rust. Nobody could have predicted that explosion.
“I figured he would find his stroke and make a few shots, but that was crazy.”
Curry didn’t enter the game until halfway through the first quarter, with the Warriors trailing 16-2 in front of a crowd of 19,500 at Portland’s Moda Centre arena.
“I been through a lot in the last three weeks,” Curry said. “A lot of people helped me to come back and play.”
Klay Thompson scored 23 points and Draymond Green collected 21 points, nine rebounds, seven blocked shots and five assists for the Warriors.
Damian Lillard scored 36 points and handed out 10 assists, CJ McCollum added 24 points, and Al Farouq Aminu chipped in 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Blazers, who will attempt to extend the series by winning Wednesday at Oracle Arena.
Curry scored the Warriors’ first 12 points of overtime for a 123-118 lead with 1:51 to go. Harrison Barnes’ fastbreak layup extended the lead to 125-118 with 1:23 to play.
Lillard made a pair of free throws to cut the difference to 125-120 with 1:18 to go, but Curry drained another three-pointer and it was 128-120 with 65 seconds left. The Blazers got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Meanwhile in the Eastern Conference game on Monday, Dwyane Wade scored 30 points and had a clutch steal and dunk in overtime as the Miami Heat evened their second-round playoff series with a 94-87 win over Toronto.
“This is one heck of a series,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Was there any doubt this was going to overtime?”
The Heat stepped it up in overtime as Joe Johnson blocked two shots, Justise Winslow produced a tip-in basket and Goran Dragic had a key layup as Miami levelled the best-of-seven series at two games each.
