Steph Curry is one of few players in NBA history who can break a game open essentially by himself, with his 3-point shooting regularly giving defenses fits.
And on May 23, 2015, Curry had one of the best playoff performances of his career.
The Golden State Warriors were up 2-0 against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals, and Curry led his team to a dominant 115-80 win in Game 3. He scored a game-high 40 points, dished seven assists and shot 63.2% from the field. He shot 77.8% from the 3-point line, only missing two of his nine attempts.
The Warriors lost Game 4, but closed out the series in Game 5 with a 104-90 win.
Golden State relentlessly attacked the Rockets on the perimeter, and Curry was the ringleader. He drove through the lane and passed to open teammates. He moved without the ball, making quality cuts to free himself of his defenders.
With the Warriors beating up on the Rockets, Curry made seven of his team’s 11 3-pointers, and his facilitating made him multi-dimensional. The Rockets didn’t just have Curry to worry about; both Klay Thompson and Draymond Green scored 17 points.
Golden State’s defense was also in top form. None of the Rockets scored at least 20 points, with James Harden tallying a team-high 17 points. Houston shot 33.7% from the field and 20.0% from the 3-point line.
The 2015 playoffs marked Curry’s first championship, and it remains as arguably his best postseason. Curry scored 40 points in Game 3 of the first round against the New Orleans Pelicans.
During that postseason, Curry averaged 28.3 points per game and shot 42.2% from the 3-point line. Both of those numbers still stand as Curry’s best playoff averages.
