Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) antagonizes Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane (22) in the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
Brandon Dill/Associated Press
That was the noun Steve Kerr used Tuesday night to describe Stephen Curry’s latest bold and beautiful performance.
In a critical game with playoff implications, in a building that conjures memories both good and bad, with a painful tailbone and his 37th birthday in the rear-view mirror, Curry erupted for 52 points.
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“Fifty-two points with people draped all over him all game long,” Kerr said. “The conditioning. The skill. The audacity. The belief.”
The belief is strong right now. The Golden State Warriors have seven regular-season games left. In the space of two months they have climbed from 11th place in the Western Conference to fifth; for the moment they are safe from the play-in round. But only for the moment.
Every game is important. Every possession is fraught.
“We love playing meaningful basketball, and this was a meaningful game,” Curry said.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who scored 52 points, enjoyed his team’s win in Memphis on Tuesday that moved them into fifth place in the Western Conference.
Brandon Dill/Associated Press
This was the goal. Put the greatest shooter the game has ever seen in meaningful games in April. Don’t waste his brilliance. Don’t fritter away the final run of one of the greatest sports careers in history.
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All credit to general manager Mike Dunleavy and the Warriors front office for making it happen, with the audacious trade for Jimmy Butler on Feb. 6.
“Jimmy saved our season,” Kerr said. “That trade saved our season.”
Now the Warriors are back to being the lead highlight reel on most nights in the NBA. The league definitely does not want the Warriors relegated to a play-in series, guaranteed only one or two games. They want a full series, preferably multiple series, to showcase the Curry electricity. The Curry audacity.
The importance of the Curry-Butler pairing was on full display in this entertaining game. Curry came out on fire with 19 first-quarter points and 32 in the first half. When he was in the game, Butler played off of him. When Butler is in the game without Curry, the offense runs through him. As Kerr says, the Butler addition has made “all the pieces fit.”
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Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III (10) shoots ahead of Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. in the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
Brandon Dill/Associated Press
The combination of the two superstars on the floor together has been lethal. The Warriors are 18-2 when Curry and Butler play together.
“That’s why the trade makes so much sense,” Curry said about the pairing. “We’re a great tandem in terms of two different styles.
“He just always makes the right play. When I’m off the floor, he’s lifting the play of the guys around him. He’s a gamer.”
This is what Curry has needed. Someone to share the burden, to draw attention, to rise to his level on a nightly basis.
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The last time the Warriors were in the FedEx Forum they were in the midst of a freefall. They scored only 93 points in the Dec. 19 loss and Curry had what might have been his worst game as a professional, notching just two free throws and zero field goals. It was part of the stretch when the Warriors, who had started the season 12-3, went 3-12 and frustration began to mount.
“Completely different team,” Kerr said of that pre-Butler December game. But the coach said he “guaranteed” that Curry remembered his struggles from that night.
Curry, who was relaxed from getting in two rounds of golf on the road, denied it.
“I’ve got amnesia,” he joked. “That’s why I keep shooting.”
Tuesday was just the most recent page of Warriors history written at FedEx Forum. There were the highly charged playoff games in 2022 that fueled the run to a fourth championship in eight years. And the pivotal moment in 2015 when Draymond Green and Curry went out to Blues City Cafe on Beale Street after a gut-wrenching loss and subsequently flipped their series with Memphis on their way to their first NBA championship.
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Memphis is a meaningful place in Warriors lore. And Curry, who also had 10 rebounds, eight assists, five steals and was 8-of-8 from the free-throw line Tuesday, made sure the city was honored again.
Other parts of Warriors’ history permeated the game. Curry knew he was two 3-pointers away from Klay Thompson’s record of 14 threes in a game, and he came out firing off the bench in the fourth quarter in what he later described as an ill-advised heat check.
“I missed both and kind of came to reality,” he said. “We need to win this game.”
With his firehose performance, Curry passed Jerry West on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, moving into 25th place. When he learned that, Curry said he got emotional, not only because of West’s death in June, but because of what West meant to the Warriors organization. Curry said the game ball would go in a special place.
Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane (22) handles the ball against Golden State Warriors guard Moses Moody (4) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)
Brandon Dill/Associated Press
The only thing missing from Curry’s performance was a “night night.” Instead, the honor of burying the Grizzlies belonged to Moses Moody, who hit a late 3-pointer after Butler had stolen the ball from Ja Morant. That steal had followed a Brandin Podziemski tip-in off a Curry missed 3-pointer. Draymond Green had his usual defensively brilliant glue game. This wasn’t just the Curry & Butler show. The Warriors are playing energized, organized team basketball.
The road ahead is hard. The Warriors are at the Lakers on Thursday, then home against Denver on Friday and Houston on Sunday. But they are fueled right now.
By the audacity of Curry.
Reach Ann Killion: [email protected]; X: @annkillion
