The motivation behind Steph Curry’s historic 50-piece Game 7 performance started on Saturday, April 29 at 3:45am.
The night before, the Warriors endured a terrible 118-99 loss to the Kings in Game 6, which looked like it would spell the end of their postseason run.
Curry was so angry about the events that unfolded in Game 6 that he couldn’t sleep, according to The Athletic.
He checked his phone at 3:45am and saw he had a text from his teammate Draymond Green, who clearly couldn’t sleep either.
The pair went back and forth about a lot of things, like how Malik Monk called them old, about their embarrassment and Green said he would speak to the team and rally them for Game 7.
The response he got from Curry was: “let me take this one.”
That day, before the start of the Warriors’ film session, Curry stood up in front of the group and told them: “I don’t even talk a lot, but I’ve got something to say.”
The rare speech he delivered was, like his three-point shooting, an absolute masterclass that some of his teammates dubbed the greatest speech of his whole career.
“He is that guy,” Gary Payton II said after the game. “So when he speaks, everybody better listen. Because 30 is usually quiet and lets his game speak for itself. But he had to say what he had to say, because he knew what type of vibe it was … and I don’t think he wanted to give this one up. So he led and we followed.”
Andrew Wiggins said of Curry’s message: “It gave me chills. No. 30, he’s different, man.”
Even though Wiggins was the next highest point scorer on 17, Klay Thompson had an off night and their terrible road record would have been in the back of their minds, the Warriors rallied and they fought.
Led by Curry, the away side won in convincing fashion by 20 points and now will face another storied franchise – the Lakers in the second round – in what will be a battle of epic proportions.
Game 1 of the conference semifinals series between the Lakers and the Warriors will take place on Tuesday, May 2 at 7:00PM PDT.