MINNEAPOLIS — At 38 years old, Steph Curry is still doing things on the basketball court nobody else can. The umpteenth example: A 17-point flurry in the span of six minutes, the highlight being a heat-check 31-footer that, of course, found the bottom of the net.
Curry finished with 44, and the Warriors needed every last one of them to hold off the Timberwolves, despite Golden State pulling ahead by 24 after halftime and Minnesota playing its first game since Anthony Edwards learned he would require knee surgery.
With his first 40-piece of the season, Curry joined LeBron James in exclusive company. It was his 15th 40-point game since turning 35, tying James for the most in NBA history.
“I just see him doing what Steph Curry does,” coach Steve Kerr said after the 119-114 win. “I’ve been watching him for so long that it never surprises me when he gets hot. What makes him special is it can happen at any time.”
After starting 2-of-8 from the field Wednesday, Curry pulled up and connected on his first 3-pointer about three minutes into the second quarter. He drained another on Golden State’s next possession and shouted at the Warriors’ bench, who loved it.
Curry went on to connect on six of his next eight shots, pouring in 19 as the Warriors built a 64-48 halftime lead.
Despite building a lead that widened as far as 78-54 midway through the third quarter, the Warriors needed even more from Curry to close out a Minnesota team without its best player.
He delivered — in a different fashion.
Sixteen of Curry’s points came from the foul line, including an even dozen as he helped keep Minnesota at bay in the second half. It was Curry’s second-highest total ever on foul shots.
He had gotten to the line 16 times three other times in his career, but the win over Minnesota — in career game No. 1,073 — was the first time he converted every single one of them.
“They were pressuring pretty much all the way out to half court, so you’re gonna have those driving lanes,” Curry said. “Thankfully it helped us in a couple lulls that we had, getting to the line, getting easy buckets, which we needed all of them.”
Notably, Curry is also still doing things on the basketball court that would never be expected of a star of his caliber playing only the fifth game of his 18th season, especially not one coming off a season where injuries limited him to the third-fewest games of his career.
But that’s exactly what Curry did, diving after a loose ball early in the second half. LaMello Ball went diving across the floor as Curry came away with possession — and narrowly avoided Ball barrelling into his lower half. Curry said he wasn’t even thinking about his gimpy knee.
“I think that’s just more indicative of how good I feel, considering the age and miles and how last year went that I even tried it, I had a confidence that I could get down there,” Curry said. “There’s situations where you find yourself in where you’re just playing basketball and reacting, and that’s one of those.”
Curry had already secured his 40-point night when he checked out with the Warriors leading 100-87 with a little more than 9 minutes left to play. He was still at 26 minutes, and Kerr surely would have loved to allow him to rest for the remainder of the game.
Curry has been strictly capped at 32 minutes as the Warriors attempt to manage his ramp-up and keep the knee that cost him 27 games last season as healthy as possible.
He ended up coming 25 seconds shy of the limit imposed by the Warriors training staff but reached another milestone in the process — his first 30-minute night of the season.
“I honestly didn’t know until after the game, which was nice that we were just kind of in the moment, playing,” Curry said. “A little different flow to it when I got hot in the second, had to play a little bit of a longer stretch. So it’s nice to keep building and feel good coming out of it.”
