There was no stopping Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Sunday afternoon as they rolled to a 120-100 win over the Sacramento Kings in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series.
Not only did Curry bring his A-game to the must-win situation, he brought a record-setting game.
Curry dropped 50 points on the Kings to knock them out of the playoffs, setting an NBA record for the most points in a Game 7.
Curry reached that mark by hitting seven three-pointers and completely dominating the game offensively in every possible way. He drove to the basket for layups, controlled the pace of the contest and was nearly unstoppable from behind the arc, hitting shots from all over the court.
On the whole, he shot 52% from the floor — including 38% from three-point range — while adding eight rebounds to go with six assists.
The Kings were a great story this season and one of the best teams in the Western Conference all year, but their inexperience showed in the second half of Sunday’s game. After taking a slim two-point lead into halftime, Golden State completely took over in the second half and outscored the Kings by 22 points across the final 24 minutes of regulation.
Sacramento’s offense disappeared about midway through the third quarter, struggling to protect the ball and find any rhythm on offense. With Curry coming up clutch as well, it was just too much for the Kings to overcome.
You need to be nearly flawless to beat the champs. You need to be even better when the champs have an all-time great who has a record-setting performance. There simply might not much that you can do at that point.
