Steph Curry Proclaims He's Back after 34-Point Night Vs. Nuggets

Stephen Curry may be coming off the bench for now but the two-time MVP has proclaimed he's back.

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Spinning out of a double team on his way to the basket, Stephen Curry kissed a layup off of the glass to give the Warriors their first lead of the game with just over four minutes to play in the second quarter.

Popping up off of the ground, Curry uttered three words to a raucous Chase Center crowd; “I’m fucking back.”

#StephGonnaSteph pic.twitter.com/649omRLgK3

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 19, 2022

With 34 points coming off of the bench for the Golden State Warriors, Curry, indeed, appeared to be back to his high-scoring and game-controlling self. Helping lift the Warriors to a dominant 126-106 win in Game 2 over the Denver Nuggets in their first-round playoff matchup, Curry is looking like himself again.

“You’re just starting to find a rhythm,” Curry said. “The first half, I had a little pep in my step and my body felt good. I was able to kind of get to some spots and you make certain shots, it feels a little different. Feels a little bit more normal and more emotion comes out. Especially with that layoff. It was a nice feeling.”

For Curry, missing an entire month due to a left foot injury meant that his first game back on an NBA floor would require knocking off some rust. In his case, that also meant coming off the bench for the first time in over a decade.

In Game 1, while putting up 16 points in 22 minutes was nice, a 5-for-13 shooting night revealed just how much he had to re-adjust to the game.

“The first game, missing that much time, coming off the bench and trying to get used to the speed of the game again,” Curry said. “[It was] somewhat of an impactful game but it didn’t really feel normal like it had a real flow.”

Monday night, however, the Warriors star was exponentially more efficient. Dropping 34 points, Curry shot the ball at a 70-percent clip. He hit five of the 10 three-pointers he attempted and was a game-high plus-34 on the night — all in just 24 minutes of play to boot.

Curry did not reveal if he plans to start in Game 3 as the Warriors head to Denver in an attempt to take a strangle hold of the series. What is more promising for Golden State is that Curry is responding well to his return and his foot is holding up in the process.

“It’s still there but it doesn’t matter,” Curry said. “It’s part of understanding what it’s going to feel like now and throughout this whole playoff run and how I can manage it and how I can make progress… I’m not worried about it.”