Stephen Curry showed out in his highly anticipated return for the Golden State Warriors during Sunday’s last-second 117-116 home loss to the Houston Rockets.
While Curry wasn’t able to secure a victory for Golden State, his electric performance left the NBA world buzzing, with optimism growing as the Warriors gear up for the play-in.
Stephen Curry’s 29-Point Return Fuels Excitement About Warriors’ Play-In Outlook
Playing in his first game since Jan. 30 after missing 27 straight contests due to a nagging right knee injury, Curry came off the bench for Golden State. The two-time MVP wasted no time getting up to speed, drilling a deep 3-pointer late in the first quarter before building on his momentum throughout the night.
Curry did his offensive damage in a variety of facets, finishing inside and hitting high-difficulty jumpers. In the final minutes of the third quarter, the 38-year-old put the moves on his former co-star, Rockets superstar forward Kevin Durant, in isolation, before getting to the rim for an and-one floater punctuated by a shimmy celebration.
The 12-time All-Star also made his presence felt in crunch time to keep the Warriors’ hopes of pulling off an upset alive. Moments after converting a contested finger roll to trim Golden State’s deficit to 112-111 with 1:27 remaining, Curry came around a screen and hit a deep triple to make it a one-point game once again (115-114).
The Warriors later seized a 116-115 advantage off a goaltend by Rockets wing Amen Thompson on Gary Payton II’s drive with 19.6 seconds on the clock.
However, Houston star center Alperen Şengün responded with clutch heroics of his own, finishing what proved to be the game-winner off a feed from Durant inside with 11.1 seconds left.
While Curry had a chance to cap off his big night with an exclamation point on the other end, his final shot, a long 3 over a double-team, missed the mark with time winding down.
Still, the four-time NBA champion ended the evening with a team-high 29 points, 4 assists, and 5 3s, shooting an efficient 11-for-21 (52.4%) in just 26 minutes after months on the sidelines.
“STEPH CURRY INSANE RETURN GAME 🤯 … BACK LIKE HE NEVER LEFT 🙌,” Bleacher Report captioned the performance.
“Despite [the] loss, brightest night for the Warriors in a long time. Steph Curry returns from a 27-game absence and scores 29 points in 26 minutes, including late flurry to give GSW a chance,” ESPN’s Anthony Slater gushed.
“Man, did I miss watching Steph,” The Indianapolis Star’s Dustin Dopirak reacted.
“Steph Curry, man. Most entertaining Dubs game in a while. Misses a quarter of the season and scores 29. Play-in just got more interesting, at the very least,” CBS Sports Bay Area’s Matt Lively contended.
While Golden State (36-42) is locked into a Western Conference play-in spot with just four outings remaining in its injury-plagued campaign, Curry’s late-season return gives the floundering squad a much-needed offensive focal point.
The Warriors managed to take the West’s fifth seed (49-29) down to the wire in just his first game back, boding well for their team-wide confidence moving forward.
