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Stephen Curry has found time to soak in not only the minute details of a frenzied Game 1 of the NBA Finals, which the Golden State Warriors escaped with a 124-114 overtime win, but also looking at the bigger spectrum of taking part in four straight Finals.
The Warriors managed to walk away with a tie score in regulation, shutting out LeBron James from the field and pouring it on during overtime, scoring 17 points in five minutes after getting their offensive groove back.
“It never felt panicked or anything, but it never felt settled either,” Curry told Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports. “So it was kind of a weird vibe with everything, and it comes down to a missed free throw (by George Hill), a poor time clock management situation (by Smith), and we go to overtime and for us to play the way we did, obviously there was a nice sense of relief there for sure.”
Golden State had a much different route toward these year's Finals, a year after sweeping their way to the June festivities, winning 15 straight games before a record-performance by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 that took the dream of a postseason sweep away.
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“I think that was part of why we may have struggled (in Game 1), was they play entirely different than Houston does and their game is totally different,” said Curry. “To have to adjust on the fly like that is a little different experience than last year. We had eight days (to prepare last year after sweeping the West finals against San Antonio).”
Yet the grind of a seven-game series or the rest of the bumps on the road have done little to deter Curry from living in the moment and seizing it properly, now three games away from a third championship season in the last four years.
“I soak up every bit of it,” said Curry. “It’s the Finals experience. It’s part of my nature just to enjoy every moment that you get. I can pretty much go back and recount everything in 2015, every game, 2016, every game, last year, and this one falls right in line with that type of feeling.”
“Yeah, it’s fun, man. I’m sitting on the bench before the game starts, and you look around, and it’s like, ‘We’re playing in the NBA Finals.’ That should never lose its spark. That should never be – you never should wake up and be like, ‘Oh, I’ve got another game, it’s just the Finals, ho-hum.’”
