NBA Rumors: Stephen Curry's 15-Point Streak Helps Warriors Win the Fourth Quarter of Game 2

By Jenn Loro - 20 May '16 11:35AM

MVP repeater and NBA's first unanimous honoree in 42 years Stephen Curry did what he needed to do at that moment of necessity: unleashing a 15-point streak a little under 2 minutes in mid-third quarter and turning the fourth into nothing short of formality that robbed the Thunder the possibility of chasing the 20-point lead toward the end of the game.

Is there something unusual about the game? For Golden State center Festus Ezeli, "Steph is going to be Steph." Steve Kerr just simply thought Curry just executed what's required in their game plan.

"Business as usual. This is what he does." Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said as quoted by ESPN.

As many basketball pundits point out, the defending championship title holder Golden State Warriors have never lost back-to-back in a game series. Curry, always at his finest in every game, understands the hefty demands of his immense superstardom- the team's 73-win record surpassing the 1995-96 Jordan-era Bulls' record, the league's highest three-pointer record (400+) in the season, and, of course, back-to-back MVPs.

But the tricky part of being on top of the food chain is that it comes with such a high level of expectations. As an explosive follow-up to his 17-point overtime in Portland during the second-round playoffs, he mortified the opponents to ensure the Durant-led OKC (with bigger-men lineup) won't catch up as what happened in Game 1. So within 118-second timespan in mid-third quarter, the Warriors rained down more than enough points to bury Thunder with 118-91 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

While Steph Curry undoubtedly made an impact, it was also due to an excellent team gameplay with points more or less evenly distributed among Golden State's lead scorers.

"It's all about our ball movement...it's hard to kind of get a rhythm if you don't move the ball and don't play with aggression and decisiveness, and I think we were able to do that," said Curry as quoted by USA Today.

"We set great screens. We moved the ball from side to side. When I get open shots, that's the game plan, obviously, I'm going to have to make them. But we didn't have to force anything, so that was our brand of basketball."

Meanwhile, Curry is still slated to play in Game 3 after slamming his elbow into a row of courtside seats in Game 2 in attempt to take possession of a loose ball. In his description, Curry said the swollen elbow looked like a tennis ball but he's definitely ok as the NBA superstar is off the Warriors' list of injured players. With Golden State's Game 2 win, the Western Conference Finals is now tied 1-1, Mercury News reported.