The truly all-time greats mark their excellence in part by the ability to overcome the things that befuddle all the others: Bad matchups, bad seasons, injured or underperforming supporting co-stars, truly worthy competition and the burden of otherwise underwhelming teams they must carry.
For the Golden State Warriors, that list of worries and the wobbling season that followed them also included one star teammate assaulting another, a paltry 11 road wins in the regular season, a middling defense and the need to keep a suddenly floundering dynasty alive in the face of so much forthcoming uncertainty.
But all of those things faded Sunday in the presence of Stephen Curry’s ridiculous, unprecedented and undeniable talent. It was an all-time great playoffs performance from a literal all-time great player.
Curry dropped 50 to wipe away all these obstacles, shot after shot, reminder after reminder that for all the other truths in the association, this one remains so: Steph is still Steph.
In his herculean effort, Curry became the first 50-point scorer in any Game 7 in NBA history. He dropped 30 — 30! — of those points in a second half that opened with a two-point Kings lead and ended as a masterclass in one of the game’s masters going to work.
The result was a 120-100 beatdown over the Sacramento Kings to set up a showdown in the second round against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, but it was more than that, too.
It was a reminder, historical in its weight, that the things we think we know about basketball teams and likely matchups and playoff seeds and faltering franchises and aging or fading teammates and angst and doubt sometimes mean nothing when weighed against some of the best to ever play the game.
“We all take him for granted because he’s brilliant night after night,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told the media after the game. “We’ve been watching this for 10 years and you just have to remind yourself every once in a while, big picture, ‘This is one of the greatest players in the history of the game.’
“That’s…
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