Sports Steph places defender on skates before hitting step-support 3 (0:14)
Steph Curry’s candy footwork leads to a 3-pointer in opposition to the Nuggets. (0:14)
Ohm YoungmisukApr 5, 2025, 03:09 AM ET
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Ohm Youngmisuk has covered the Giants, Jets and the NFL since 2006. Prior to that, he covered the Nets, Knicks and the NBA for virtually a decade. He joined ESPNNewYork.com after working on the Original York Day after day News for nearly 12 years and is a graduate of Michigan Issue University.
Observe him on Twitter » Ohm’s chat archive » SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry rupture up two Denver Nuggets defenders, knocked down a 20-foot pull-up shot whereas being fouled and position free a utter whereas stomping his toes.
Curry and the Golden Issue Warriors persevered to create noise Friday evening, winning their fifth straight game with a 118-104 victory over the Nuggets at Tear Heart.
“[There’s a] sense of urgency down the stretch,” Curry said. “The feeling of the establish you are in the standings, every game mattering. And the premise that the chess match of ‘how create we get this particular game?’ turns into a small bit extra well-known.
He added: “We thrive off of that. That’s why we’ve been so successful for this many years. Because as the stakes rise, the lights get brighter, we tend to level up.”
Curry has raised his stage. He made seven 3-pointers and scored 36 factors to beat the Nuggets. Within the past three video games, Curry has scored a whole of 125 factors, second most attention-grabbing to LeBron James for most factors in a three-game span by a participant age 37 or older, in accordance with ESPN Examine.
“In three different cities at 37,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr added. “He looked so fast out there tonight, and I think maybe it’s the most underrated part of his game, is his conditioning. Just incredible what he does out there, especially considering how much attention he draws defensively, how much pressure people put on him, and he handles it night after night and flourishes.”
Since Golden Issue bought Jimmy Butler before the exchange closing date, the Warriors had been a really diversified group, going 21-5 since Butler made his debut in Chicago on Feb. 8.
Draymond Green proclaimed for the length of All-Star weekend that the Warriors will get the championship with Butler. This week, they made a press liberate. The Warriors obtained three straight video games which get felt love playoff video games, beating groups that were or are presently above them in the Western Convention standings.
Golden Issue (46-31) obtained a excessive game in Memphis on Tuesday to construct the tiebreaker over the Grizzlies. They beat the Lakers in Los Angeles on Thursday after which returned home after spending 14 days on the avenue and took care of Denver in the second game of a support-to-support. Friday’s get snapped a 9-game losing walk to the Nuggets (47-31).
Curry, whose three-level play pushed the Warriors up by 15 with 2:30 final, turned into requested if the Warriors are playing love a group at a championship stage.
“We’re playing like that,” Curry said. “We get deal of work. I have been asserting that since this high-tail started. We serene get deal of work to create to create the year solid. You are seeing an identification on a evening-to-evening that we understand the appropriate solution to get video games. Whether it’s video games the establish tempo is loads quicker, you bought to get or if it’s a grind-out defensive game. Now we get played better in fourth quarters with leads. The whole things that championship-caliber groups create, now we had been doing and it’s clearly diversified than two months previously.
“For us to just be able to get into a playoffs series, we understand what we’re capable of, and whether you’re predicting it or speaking it into existence or whatever it is, the confidence is there. So just ride that wave.”
The Warriors are using the momentum they’ve had since the Butler exchange. Curry and Green are rejuvenated and role avid gamers equivalent to Brandin Podziemski, who had 26 factors in opposition to the Nuggets one evening after scoring 28 in opposition to the Lakers, are thriving alongside Butler.
On Sunday, the Warriors face the Houston Rockets, who are presently second in the West. Golden Issue’s goal is to get in the tip six and out of the play-in tournament.
“We’ve got momentum right now,” Kerr said. “The Memphis one turned into most probably the abundant one to kick off this three-game stretch. And so that you just would possibly string these wins together in opposition to three groups all sooner than us in the standings on the time, massive.
“We’ve got five games left, we know we’ve got to win four of them to guarantee a top-six spot, so we just got to keep going.”