Steph Curry explodes for 57 as Warriors comeback falls just short

If you wanted three things out of Saturday night’s primetime showdown between the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks, it would have been these three: A stop-everything-and-turn-on-the-TV performance from Steph Curry, a compelling and exciting game, and a Warriors win.

The Dubs delivered on the first two of those things, emphatically. And on the latter they got as close as is possible before falling 134-132.

Golden State was left to crawl back into things after falling behind 18-2 to start the game, and while they briefly took the lead in the third quarter, they were playing from behind for nearly every second of the game, creeping to within an inch of Dallas before falling back.

Curry did everything in his power, pouring in 57 points on 19-for-31 shooting, and hitting 11-for-19 from beyond the arc. And seemingly every bucket was ridiculous.

Like seriously, what even is that?

After the game, Steve Kerr had some of the highest praise we’ve ever seen him dole out, saying that the two-time MVP has “never played better ... I’ve never seen him like this.”

Indeed, it was Curry’s world, and everyone else was just living in it. Unfortunately, that “everyone else” included Luka Dončić, who had 42 points and 11 assists on 12-for-23 shooting, and the refs, who missed a key call in the final minute when Kristaps Porzingis knocked the ball out of bounds, seconds before Dallas nailed a back-breaking three.

And so the sting of an oh-so-close loss is what sticks in our mouths, even if we should be marveling at the hyper-efficient game from Andrew Wiggins, the 15 assists from Draymond Green, the 20 points from Kent Bazemore, the 10 rebounds from Juan Toscano-Anderson, and, above all else, the pure brilliance of Wardell Stephen Curry II.