Stephen Curry isn't missing Game 4. The Golden State Warriors point guard made that clear on Thursday amid fears over his foot injury that outside observers worried would be enough to keep him out.
“I'm gonna play. That's all I know right now,” said Steph Curry definitively ahead of their TD Garden rematch against the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
Steph Curry: “I’m gonna play. That’s all I know right now.” pic.twitter.com/58OjBKx3hE
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) June 9, 2022
The true severity of the injury at this point likely won't be released by the Warriors braintrust until after the NBA Finals. Curry himself even admitted that it felt similar to the initial foot injury he had suffered against the same Celtics on March 16th, albeit less severe. That injury kept him out for the final 12 games of the season.
If this were the regular season, there's a 99% chance he'd miss time for Golden State. He isn't missing this next one. If anyone knows how much Game 4 matters, it's Stephen Curry.
Why Warriors-Celtics Game 4 could be career-defining moment for Steph Curry
Entering Game 4, Golden State trails two games to one against a Celtics side that's favored on their own home floor. If Curry wasn't playing, there's little doubt that the Warriors return to the Bay Area facing a 1-3 deficit.
They know more than anyone how previously insurmountable a 3-1 lead is. Unless you're expecting a Hollywood script type of redemption arc for their club over their 2016 heartbreak, they likely aren't coming back from that.
Relatively speaking though, it's all gravy at this point for Steph Curry. The Warriors could very well lose these NBA Finals. It's plausible that they never make it again while Stephen Curry is on the team.
If this is the closest Curry ever gets to the mountaintop again, there's already enough on his lengthy resume to cement his place in the annals of NBA history forever. He's a no-doubter top 20 all-time player, maybe higher depending on preference.
But when it comes down to the greatest of the great, as Stephen Curry is, you're never resting on your laurels until your body tells you to. The margins and scraps that all-timers fight over are extremely tight at the top.
Look no further than LeBron James, who's clearly pining for the NBA all-time scoring title from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to add another huge feather to the cap of his G.O.A.T. argument.
It's tough to knock Stephen Curry. A three-time champ and two-time MVP who's undoubtedly the greatest shooter to ever play the game is better than your avatar's MyCareer on NBA 2K. But for as great as he is, the Warriors star certainly has his shortcomings when juxtaposed with his legendary peers.
He's never won an NBA Finals MVP award despite owning three championship rings. That will almost certainly change if the Warriors win the series. He's been the clear-cut best player thus far among both teams and has been the consistent force keeping the Warriors alive.
Curry has also won just one NBA title when he was the best player on his own team. And even that had some asterisks given that both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love got injured in the series, leaving LeBron James to fend for himself against a stacked 2014-15 Warriors team.
Tracy McGrady says Steph isn’t in same convo as MJ, LeBron and Kobe
“He won a championship, right, against LeBron that didn’t have Kyrie, that didn’t have Kevin Love. He didn’t win the [Finals] MVP, right? Then he loses a 3-1 lead to LeBron, gets K.D.”https://t.co/II0PfkeXHN
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) June 9, 2022
Game 4 would also be the perfect time for a signature Stephen Curry Finals game. His best Finals games scoring-wise, a 38-point Game 4 effort against the 2016 Cavs and a 47-point eruption against the 2019 Toronto Raptors, were both in years in which his team ended up losing. Having a signature performance in a Finals game that could swing the series entirely could do just enough to elevate the narrative on Stephen Curry.
We saw Giannis Antetokounmpo reach a ceiling on the NBA's grandest stage last season. There's nobody questioning his prowess in the playoffs any longer because we've seen him shine when the lights were brightest. Stephen Curry has been consistently great but he's yet to show off his supernova self in an NBA Finals game that his team desperately need. Even the most fervent of Celtics fans aren't betting against him having one in Game 4.
In the grand scheme of things, Stephen Curry doesn't have anything else left to prove. But in the venerated air of NBA's pantheon of greats, this Game 4, and the rest of the series at large, is critical for him to elevate himself even further.
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