This past Thursday night, the Warriors had to returned to the Chase Center in San Francisco to finally win a game against the Kings in Game 3 of their first-round playoff matchup.
After beating Sacramento 114-97, this Western Conference series is now 2-1 in favor of coach Mike Brown’s team. During the contest, Golden State star Stephen Curry made the NBA history books once again as he moved up on the all-time playoff scoring list.
Take a look at the two-time MVP’s highlights as he dropped a total of 36 against their California rivals:
The four-time NBA champion started the match with 3,628 career playoff points, standing 18th on the list, as he only needed 15 to climb ahead of Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen (3,642) for 17th. But as he hit 36 points in total, he also overcame Dirk Nowitzki’s scoring record in postseason.
Curry, who has played for the Warriors all his career, has guided the club to six NBA Finals in the past eight years. So it’s no wonder why he’s reaching postseason records so quickly.
Just imagine how much he grew in the all-time playoff scoring list since last year’s NBA Championship, as Curry earned his first Finals MVP when Golden State defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the final stage.
This season has been slow for the reigning champs, as they’ve endured many struggles on the road. At the Chase Center, they went 33-8 in their 41 games at home, but only ended up as the Western Conference’s sixth seed with a 44-38 mark after regular season.
Now, as their still trailing behind Sacramento in the first-round series, Curry has still been able to hit 28+ points in every game he’s played this postseason. The winner between these two California franchises will face the Los Angeles Lakers or Memphis Grizzlies in the second round.
Steph takes shot at NBA’s Draymond suspension after Game 3 win
Even though Golden State won Game 3, they were still visibly unhappy with the decision officials made to suspend Draymond Green after he stomped over Kings star Domantas Sabonis during their last clash at the start of the week.
After the match, Curry took his frustrations to TNT’s postgame show and expressed how vital Green’s motivational speech was during Wednesday’s practice to the squad.
“They say Draymond’s got a history, so do we.”
Steph on how the Warriors bounced back in Game 3 pic.twitter.com/31n31qq023
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 21, 2023
“Like you said, there’s a lot of noise and distractions around the series,” Curry said after the contest. “Obviously losing both games up there was a tough way to start. Wanted to come home with some good focus and then to get that call that he’s suspended, it was a tough blow, but yesterday at practice, we had really good energy, understanding what the mission was to understand we couldn’t change anything about the decision that we knew was wrong.
“But that if we could come out and win tonight, it changes the momentum of the series and it gives us an opportunity to just make it about basketball. And that was Draymond’s message the whole time, was ‘Make the right adjustments, come with the right energy, protect our home-court.’”
Curry assured that as the player will return for the next game, they’ll be even stronger as a team. “When he gets back on Sunday, we got to capitalize on that, try to win and even up this series,” he said. “We did what we’re supposed to do. They said Draymond’s got a history, so do we. So we know how to bounce back.”
