Steph appreciates battles vs. OKC after closing out another big win

Steph appreciates battles vs. OKC after closing out another big win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Stephen Curry already is well-known for his incredible skills on a basketball court, and he’s been known to flex his athletic prowess on the golf course a few times.

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After all, Curry was brilliant as a closer for Golden State on Sunday in Oklahoma City. The two-time NBA MVP scored eight of his season-high 36 points in the fourth quarter and made multiple clutch plays down the stretch to help the Warriors hand the Thunder their first home loss of the season in a 127-116 victory at Paycom Center.

Not that Curry hasn’t done it before, especially in OKC. He’s had a history of crushing the spirit of Thunder fans for years and was just the latest chapter in his book of favorite places to play.

“I like it,” Curry said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Warriors Postgame Live,” after Sunday’s win. “The one thing is cool, over the course of however many years there’s only a couple years where OKC and us weren’t very relevant in the Western Conference. But for the most part it’s always been a battle and a grind here. So you look forward to it. It’s great energy, the fans are great, their team is great.

“And it’s obviously great to get a win.”

For what seems like the umpteenth time in his illustrious NBA career, Curry shredded the Thunder like a block of cheese. He dropped a season-high 36 points in 36 minutes and had seven assists with five rebounds.

Curry would have had more had one of the referees not missed a blatant foul against the Thunder after the Warriors’ sharp-shooter nailed one of the seven 3-pointers he made.

“Steph was incredible,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Great rhythm. The impact that he made with his passing – even when he wasn’t making shots he was pulling defenders with him and that opened up the whole offense.”

On a night when Golden State got big scoring games from Jonathan Kuminga, DeAnthony Melton, it was easily evident that Curry is still the man that drives the Warriors’ wagon.

Just that quickly, Golden State went from a team who many believed would be hard-pressed to just qualify for the play-in game to one that is now being looked at as a serious contender in the Western Conference.

That his latest heroics came against the Thunder is certainly no surprise. Prior to Sunday, Curry had a 26.7 scoring average over 46 career games against Oklahoma City, his third-highest mark against any NBA team.

This might have been one of the toughest Thunder team’s that Curry has faced, too, even though OKC lost its starting center, Chet Holmgren, to an injury early in the game.

Before that, the Thunder were one of the top defensive teams in the NBA. They had a collective defensive rating of 97.3 and had allowed only one player to score more than 25 points against them this season.

Until Curry came to town.

Curry and the Warriors played so well early on that Kerr had hoped to be able to give his point guard some extra rest in the fourth quarter. Those plans had to be scrapped after the Thunder trimmed a 30-point lead to 114-108.

After a Jonathan Kuminga dunk, Curry helped force a turnover then raced to the opposite end of the court, pump-faked on Lugentz Dort then sank a side-step 3-pointer with 2 minutes remaining, Curry also made a pair of free throws with 53 seconds left to help seal the deal.

“Looked like it was going to be a night where we could keep him under 30 minutes again, and then obviously OKC made that big run to start the fourth,” Kerr said. “Steph did a great job of coming back in and closing it when it got a little dicey.”

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