Finally home from a two-week road trip, after beating three teams ahead of them in the standings in four nights across three cities, the Warriors were exhausted.
Jimmy Butler slumped in his chair like he needed another cup of Bigface, his personal coffee brand. Draymond Green apologized for sounding like Klay Thompson during his low-energy media session. Players evacuated out of the locker room, eager to hit ear to pillow.
Steph Curry, though? He’s doing just fine.
Splitting Denver double teams, scampering out to the 3-point line after an offensive board, dancing in isolation, and relocating for threes, Curry looked as spry as he has all year in the Warriors’ 118-104 win over the Nuggets. His 36 points powered the Warriors (46-31) to their fifth straight victory and continued his scoring binge.
As the Warriors sprint through the race to avoid the play-in round, Curry has scored 125 combined points over his last three games. At 37 years old. Playing back-to-backs. Toughing through the remnant discomfort of his pelvic contusion that knocked him out for a week.
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Although several players are banged up, the Warriors have an entirely available roster. With five games left, they’re playing at a championship level. As always, it starts with Curry, who thrives in this type of environment — meaningful basketball.
“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 said.
The way Curry has elevated this week, at this point in his career, is historic. Only two players older than 35 years old have ever scored at least 125 points over three games: LeBron James in 2022 and Michael Jordan in 2001.
Curry’s tear started with his best performance of the season — 52 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, and five steals in a gritty win in Memphis. He followed that up by leading the Warriors over James, Luka Doncic, and the Lakers with an electrifying 37-point gem.
In his career, Curry’s best scoring month is April (30.1 points per game). That’s not a coincidence; it’s the time to ramp up for the playoffs.
Curry’s April dominance goes beyond scoring. At this time of year, he tends to be more hands-on, more in-the-weeds with game plans, more locked in. In the fourth quarter against the Nuggets, he told head coach Steve Kerr to substitute Gui Santos in for his defense and energy. After Buddy Hield threw up an ill-advised airball, he pounded Hield’s chest to remind him of the value of possessions.
“There is a completely different focus,” Green said. “And you see the focus everywhere. It’s not just once he steps on the court in a game.”
Curry dissected Denver’s trapping defense, getting off the ball when necessary and trusting it’d find its way back to him. To counter the Nuggets’ scheme, the Warriors called up fewer picks, allowing Curry to beat his man off the dribble and break the paint. He took two charges — sore tailbone be damned — and chased down Christian Braun for a late steal.
With 2:30 left, Curry split a double team, took one quick dribble and fired a 20-footer through contact for a game-sealing and-1. As MVP chants rained down from the Chase Center stands, he threw a fist pump and flexed.
As Curry goes, the Warriors go. And even through some schedule adversity, they’re zooming.
With Curry, Green, and Jimmy Butler in the lineup, Golden State is 20-2. They’re a perfect 14-0 with their current starting lineup (no lineup since the merger has finished a season undefeated with at least 12 games together).
“Just confirms who we thought we were,” said Green, who predicted a championship at All-Star weekend.
The Butler acquisition has slotted Brandin Podziemksi and Moses Moody into roles they can excel in. Podziemski in particular has been shooting the lights out. He registered 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists against the Nuggets, leveraging his hot outside shooting by driving closeouts and getting inside for pull-up midrange jumpers.
“Brandin is probably the biggest beneficiary of the Jimmy trade,” Kerr said after the guard’s third game of at least 26 points in the past four games.
Having a fully stocked rotation allowed the Warriors to come at Denver in waves. By mixing and matching both personnel and scheme — they threw a box-and-one at Jokic briefly — the Warriors forced the Nuggets into a season-high 26 turnovers.
Beating the Grizzlies, Lakers, and Nuggets in a row has inched the Warriors within a stone’s throw of the fourth seed. “It shows what we’re capable of,” Butler said. When they acquired Butler, they were below .500 and sitting in 10th.
They’ve had a real sense of belief since acquiring Butler. But after surging through the gauntlet, the confidence is at a new level. No team would be excited to play the Warriors in a series.
“We want everybody to be as healthy as possible, playing our best basketball at the right time,” Butler said. “And I feel like we’re getting very, very, very close to that.”
Sustaining this level of play is the key. They might benefit from a tweak here or a rotation adjustment there, but Golden State is just about fully formed. They’ve established an identity and are playing as well as any team in the league. All they need to do is keep doing it — for the next six weeks.
That’s not easy. The playoffs typically aren’t kind to old teams. Playing small, with Green featured at center, takes a physical toll. So does playing fast, and defending players like Nikola Jokic.
“It’s hard,” Curry said. “But you’ve got to embrace what it means to play playoff-type basketball night after night. If you can sustain that down the stretch and into the playoffs, good things can happen.”