OAKLAND, Calif. — Fresh charcoal gray NBA finals cap on backward and wearing a wide grin, Stephen Curry summed up his wild, up-and-down postseason so far and reminded everybody he’s not close to done.
Curry’s got his groove back, all right – looking healthy again at last after dealing with a troublesome ankle, right knee sprain that sidelined him and even a puffy elbow from an awkward dive into the stands.
“Now we’re four wins away from our goal and that’s a pretty special accomplishment,” Curry said Monday night after his Golden State Warriors wrapped up the Western Conference title by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7.
Curry will take the 73-win Warriors back to the NBA finals with a shot at a second straight championship, his plan from the start.
Golden State’s ultimate goal of a repeat title has been in the works since Day 1, even if the Warriors’ chances of digging out of a big hole against Oklahoma City looked dire just last week. His body beat up, Curry had no choice but to watch Klay Thompson and others carry the Warriors for much of this postseason run while he worked his way back.
It’s his time again.
Just as he did after the Warriors won Game 5 to stave off elimination, Curry chanted through Oracle Arena, “We ain’t going home!” as Golden State became the 10th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win a postseason series with Monday night’s 96-88 Game 7 victory.
Curry and his teammates earned a day off Tuesday before preparations begin in earnest Wednesday for a finals rematch against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost last season’s title to Golden State in six games.
For Curry, there’s one more step to cap a record-setting season.
Curry earned the first unanimous MVP award in league history, also becoming the first player not only to make 300 3-pointers in a season but also 400 – he finished with 402 – before a series of injuries slowed him as it mattered most.
There was the injured ankle in the first-round Houston series, then he returned only to slip on a wet spot in Game 4 against the Rockets and sprained his right knee. He made a dive into the Oracle Arena stands against the Thunder and gave himself a puffy elbow, and for a few games hardly looked comfortable with his typically breezy ballhandling and shoot-from-anywhere rhythm.
Until he did again.
His teammates have come to expect nothing less, even when Curry’s body is hurting and speculation swirls about whether he’s playing somewhere around 70 percent. He’s learned to block out the chatter along the way, knowing that just comes with being the best.
“That’s really one thing that I admire about him. He’s a person that’s never going to change for anybody. He hasn’t changed to try to prove anything,” said a teammate, Andre Iguodala. “He just stayed true to himself.”
Curry scored 36 points in the deciding game with seven 3-pointers and dishing out eight assists. He wound up with 32 3s against the Thunder, the most ever in a seven-game postseason series.
“I feel joy, for sure,” he said. “This is an unbelievable accomplishment.”
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