The most anticipated back-to-back of the Warriors’ season is here, and it’s got Steph Curry’s name all over it.
Curry and the Warriors (32-28) return to his hometown of Charlotte on Monday night before heading to Madison Square Garden for the second leg.
A homecoming and the mecca of basketball. Two of Curry’s favorite places to play, and he’s on a tear as he arrives.
Over his last 11 games, since the day the Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler, Curry is averaging 31.2 points and 6.1 assists per game while shooting 47.7% from the field and 40% from behind the 3-point arc. In that span, he’s tied with Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards for the league lead in points per game.
He has scored at least 30 points in six of those games. He poured in 12 3-pointers in a season-high 56-point outburst in a win over Orlando and then notched his season-high in assists one game later. He even threw down a dunk.
Curry’s dunk — which he declared would be the last of his career — illustrates how well he’s been feeling recently. He dealt with a sprained ankle earlier in the season and lingering bilateral knee tendinitis, but has been playing in both ends of back-to-backs since late January.
“The maintenance still requires a lot to get ready to play,” Curry said after Sunday’s game. “You’re still mindful of the knees. It’s holding stable, which is all I want — be available and be stable out there.”
All signs point to him being available for both the Hornets and Knicks games (and the three back-to-backs remaining afterward).
Curry has played 11 games in Charlotte in his career, where some fans still hold out hope he’ll wind up in teal at some point. The Warriors are 7-4 with Curry in the Spectrum Center and he has electrified the crowd with two 40-point games — in 2013 and 2015.
The games all hold real sentimental value. His dad, Dell, is the longtime television color commentator for the team. At morning shootaround, he watched Curry from the stands. And Curry’s younger brother, Seth, is in his second season with the Hornets.
At shootaround, Curry said coming to Charlotte is always special and he’ll have around 30 people at the game.
“This is my 16th year, which is a milestone for the family,” Curry told reporters. “My dad played this many years and it’s always a goal of mine to get here. So it is kind of a cool reflection to be in your 16th year playing in Charlotte, playing against your brother, your dad’s up in the booth.”
The Garden holds a different place in Curry’s heart.
Madison Square Garden is where Curry burst onto the scene with a 54-point masterpiece in 2013. His coming-out party featured 11 3-pointers and was so impressive, no one remembers Golden State actually lost the game.
Eight years later, on Dec. 14, 2021, Curry passed Ray Allen for the NBA’s career 3-pointers record in front of Allen and Reggie Miller in the Garden.
“This arena, I can’t express how much of an honor that was for the reaction here on the road and the appreciation for this milestone,” Curry said in his postgame interview then.
Get your popcorn ready.