At first, it looked like nothing more than a desperation heave.
Stephen Curry had lost the ball late in the shot clock early in the fourth quarter Sunday night, but got it back about 30 feet away from the basket with Kevin Love closing in on him. Realizing the shot clock was about to expire, Curry barely squared his shoulders to the rim and let the ball fly out of his hands in such a high arc, it looked like it might hit the ceiling here at Oracle Arena
Only it didn’t hit the ceiling. Or the backboard. Or the rim.
Instead, it dropped through the net, causing a roar from Curry’s faithful fans here that nearly blew the roof off this old basketball barn, and helping ensure the Golden State Warriors would emerge with a 122-103 victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals and 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven series over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It also moved Curry, who finished with 33 points — 16 of which came in the fourth quarter, seven rebounds and eight assists — to within striking distance of the one thing left undone on his basketball resume: earning an NBA Finals MVP award.
“It took to the second question of my first media availability, so I’m pretty sure that narrative’s going to take life, as it has since 2015,” Curry said with a smile during his series-opening media session Wednesday. “But it doesn’t make or break my career or whatever you want to say looking back. If we win this championship and I don’t win Finals MVP, I’m going to be smiling just as wide and just as big.
Curry may have meant what he said, but his play through the opening two games of this series has said otherwise. After scoring 29 points to go with six rebounds and nine assists in Game 1, Curry followed up with 33 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in Game 2, and has easily been Golden State’s best, and most important, player.
And while there is still an awful lot of basketball left to be played – remember, it was only two years ago the Cavaliers beat the Warriors three straight times to claim the title – the path to Golden State winning, and Curry being the reason, has never looked clearer.
He shredded Cleveland in the fourth quarter, going a pristine 5 for 5 from three-point distance – including not only the shot-clock-beating heave from the wing but also a corner three he made while being fouled by Love.
His play put an exclamation point on a wire-to-wire victory for Golden State, which received 26 points, nine rebounds and seven assists from Kevin Durant and 20 points from Klay Thompson, who on Sunday morning wasn’t even a sure thing to play in Game 2 after he suffered an ankle injury in Game 1.
LeBron James was once again sensational, finishing with 29 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds while playing the first 43 minutes 51 seconds before Cavaliers Coach Tyronn Lue pulled the plug on this one with the Warriors leading by 18 late in the fourth.
Game 2’s lopsided final score, though, doesn’t reflect the way Cleveland played throughout the game. After the gut-wrenching loss the Cavaliers suffered in Game 1 – George Hill missed a potential game-winning free throw with 4.7 seconds remaining, and teammate J.R. Smith grabbed the rebound but thought the Cavaliers were winning and dribbled out the clock – some wondered whether Cleveland would be able to recover.
Before the game, Lue made the case his team would be just fine.
“I think everyone was pretty upset the way the game ended that night,” Lue said. “But I thought the next day we did a good job of having a team dinner, the guys bonded, having a good time. Yesterday, having a good practice, coming together and cleaning up some of the mistakes that we made in Game 1. So we’re in a good place right now.”
He was right. Even after Golden State went up 15-6 early, even as Smith received a standing ovation during pregame introductions for his blunder, even as the Warriors led throughout the game, Cleveland hung around. Golden State’s lead vacillated between five and 15 points for the majority of the game, but the Cavaliers never allowed the Warriors to completely get away.
Neither, however, did the Cavaliers ever get quite close enough to let anyone think they had a real chance of winning.
That left the game in an odd state of limbo – at least, it did until Curry went crazy in the fourth quarter. And, like so many times before inside this arena, his flurry of three-pointers put away a game opponent.
The differences this time were that the Cavaliers were the opponent and the stage was the sport’s biggest.
Two more games like this and Curry won’t have to worry about that open hole on his resume. A third NBA championship ring, and an NBA Finals MVP award, will both be his.
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