SAN FRANCISCO — Locating the reverence for Steph Curry in the Golden State Warriors’ locker room is typically a challenge. What he does on the court — his thing that so captivates viewers, churns the social media machine, and ignites the imagination of hoopers across the globe — is undeniably normal to them. Who he is, the person and teammate, is so familiar to them. Awe is often absent when they discuss his feats. Their cliche replies, their matter-of-factness, mock the idea of novelty in Curry’s brilliance.
They don’t mean it as disrespect. Instead, it’s a declaration of his reliability. They’re so exposed to his greatness, so conditioned by its consistency, their default disposition is yeah, we know.
“Whatever I’ve said the last 11 years after every one of these games,” head coach Steve Kerr said, “just copy and paste.’
But then a particular moment comes, a stunt is executed, an improbability occurs, or perhaps just a vivid reminder of how normal he’s not. And even they marvel.
Their veneration following the Warriors’ 104-93 win over the Houston Rockets in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series was conjured by his toughness. His invisible strength. Not his 36 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in 41 minutes. But the fortitude he flexed on Saturday. The stuff beneath his muscles, behind his chest and between his ears. The caulk in the legend he’s built.
“He’s always been mentally tough,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “He’s even more mentally tough now.”
Houston boasts one of the league’s best defenses. They have waves of options. They are executing at a high level. But they couldn’t take control of this series because Curry imposed his will.
With just over three minutes left in the game, and the Warriors surging, Curry caught the ball at the top of the key. He lunged forward with a jab step, faking a drive, before stepping back behind the arc. Still with a live dribble, he paused for a second, taunting Houston’s Jalen Green with his options.
Curry was approaching 40 minutes but wasn’t tired. He’d been face-guarded and trapped and hacked all game, yet was somehow fresh. Houston’s best had provoked his.
“It is physically taxing because you’re handling the pressure on the ball,” Curry said. “You’re trying to read where the big is, where certain driving gaps might be or where the pass is. So you’ve got to be locked in — mentally, physically, emotionally. Be patient, knowing if it doesn’t happen early, it’s a 48-minute game. And I do pride myself on endurance, to be able to finish as strong as you might start and feel as good in the fourth quarter as I do in the first quarter.”
He diced up Houston’s defense with five assists in the fourth quarter, countering their traps by setting up his teammates. But this time, he wanted to dance with his former protege in Jalen Green, who once played in Curry’s elite high school camp.
In a blink, Curry launched a 3, before the Rockets defender could even react. Curry knew it was in. Because they couldn’t hold him. Not nearly enough.
Wardell Stephen Curry II
CLUTCH. pic.twitter.com/bxQUHXqczr
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 27, 2025
“He hit some shots today,” Warriors center Kevon Looney said, “and I’m like, ‘This m—f—’s still going.’ Ain’t nothing changed. He’s been doing this my whole career.”
Curry is 37 years old. His sidekick on offense, Jimmy Butler, wasn’t in uniform, instead wearing a Don King-type brown furcoat over a brown sweatsuit. He’s facing a young, athletic and aggressive defense that employs Rockets coach Ime Udoka’s stated goal of preventing splashes and using physicality to provoke frustration. Turn water into whine is Houston’s plan.
But after three games of wrestling with a defense aimed at him, Curry isn’t crying. Nor frustrated. Nor withering.
Saturday was the time to get to him. To overwhelm him. They couldn’t do it. Now the Rockets head into a pivotal Game 4 on Monday — potentially against Curry and Butler — with a lesson many before them learned: This dude is hard to break.
He’ll kick the ball around with the best of them. Careless turnovers are as connected to his legacy as his dangling mouthpiece. He’ll go through cold spells shooting. He takes bad shots. But like rangy defenders and blitzing schemes, like his limited size and propensity for injury, none of that stops Curry.
Yeah, he shoots like no else. His handle is among the craftiest. He’s a willing and capable passer. He’s gotten stronger as he’s gotten older. Kerr calls him one of the best-conditioned athletes in the league. He’s agile and shifty. But as Muhammad Ali once said, “the will must be stronger than the skill.”
All of Curry’s attributes are activated by the resilience at his core, leaving his teammates shaking their heads and rolling their eyes in disbelief.
“When you think on mentally tough,” guard Buddy Hield said, “you’ve got to put him in the category of Kobe (Bryant) and Michael (Jordan). And I really mean that because I’ve never seen nothing like that. No disrespect to them, but he makes tougher shots than them. He might not have the lift and the burst, but he’s shooting from all over the court. They’re getting to their spots and elevating over people. But when your guy’s chasing you and you’re running around, and you’re like 6-2, and you’re trying to find space, it’s hard. You’ve got to be different. … His mind is out of this world.
“I tell him that there’s a galaxy that’s out there that he’s from that nobody can touch.”
Game 3 was a portrait of Curry’s relentlessness, which now demands a new level of intensity from Houston.
He relishes this type of challenge. Conquering it makes the statement he’s been working to proclaim all of his basketball life. That he’s not soft. That he’s not weak. That he won’t quit.
Like every superstar, he needs support for a serious chance at winning. He needs Butler to return. He needs others to play well. But Saturday, he paved the way for his help by going back at Houston. He attacked their aggression.
“You know when you’re getting taken out of the game,” Curry said. “There’s a feeling. … You have to find a way to get free and get loose a little bit to keep the defense honest.”
It takes a maniacal drive just being prepared for this. His discipline ensures he puts in the work so he’s ready for this grind. It takes more work to get ready at his age. More diligence to recover. More resolve to not grow weary.
When Rockets guard Fred VanVleet put his shoulder into Curry’s chest late in the first half, trying to create space so he could get a shot off, Curry had the strength to hold up. More than that. He blocked VanVleet’s floater to beat the shot clock. Curry tapped the rebound to himself, secured the loose ball and zipped an outlet pass to a streaking Hield for a layup.
Coast 👉 Coast
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 27, 2025
“The fact that, even now, his defense is better,” Looney said. “Usually, as you get older, you might be able to score, but you ain’t guarding. He’s actually competing on both sides of the ball. You’ve got young dudes who are supposed to be the best defenders out (there), and they can’t do nothing with him. They’ve got to foul him and it still ain’t working.”
Game 3 was the first time Curry has played more than 40 minutes in regulation in just shy of two years. The last time was Game 4 in Los Angeles against the Lakers in the 2023 Western Conference semifinals. Kerr told Curry before the game he’d have to play about 40 minutes with Butler out.
The Warriors don’t have offensive creators without Curry or Butler on the floor. The offense has struggled against the Rockets’ defense, failing to score 100 points in Games 1 and 2. Saturday had to be different. And without Butler, that meant it had to be Curry.
“We all follow him,” Draymond Green said. “With that type of tenacity, you’re not going to be the guy to let him down. I don’t think anybody wants to be that guy when he’s coming out and giving that type of effort. Oftentimes, I try to bring that energy, and I didn’t have it. And he found it. Then I followed him. And we all followed him. I thought it was beautiful.”
So did Butler. After the game, he took to Instagram. The self-described Robin posted the famous Batman signal in the sky. But he replaced the Batman symbol with the Curry Brand logo.
Butler hasn’t seen this enough for it to be normal yet. His awe is easy to locate.
(Top photo of Steph Curry celebrating after Saturday’s win: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
