Remembering Stephen Curry’s 30 greatest moments on his 30th birthday

1. The OKC game

Though the 2015-16 season ended in disappointment for the Warriors, it could have ended a whole lot earlier.

Despite a record of 52-5, things nearly unraveled during a nationally-televised game in Oklahoma City. Down 11 at halftime, reporters overheard Draymond Green yelling and threatening Kerr in the locker room. To make matters worse, Curry rolled his ankle just over a minute into the third quarter, and had to be replaced by Shaun Livingston. Suddenly, the Warriors’ utterly dominant season seemed to be hanging by a thread.

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Curry returned with 5:10 remaining in the quarter and the Warriors down seven. At that point, he had four 3s. By the time he got the ball in the backcourt with five seconds remaining in a tied overtime period, he had 11.

Throughout that season, and Curry’s entire career, he has redefined our understanding of what is possible on the basketball court. From 3/4 court shots to absurd dribble moves, from unreachable statistical milestones to seemingly insurmountable deficits, Curry has moved the line on what we expect from him, and every time we adjust, he moves it more.

When Curry pulled up from nearly 40 feet out, so much was unfathomable. It was unfathomable that his previous 3 had given him the single-season record of 287, and it was still February. It was unfathomable that, if this shot were to fall, he would tie the single-game record with 12 made 3s, despite looking badly injured just over an hour earlier. It was unfathomable that he decided to shoot, rather than use a couple more dribbles to get closer as he had time to do.

The one thing that was not unfathomable was that the shot would fall. Even though we had never seen that type of attempt at a game-winner from anyone before, those who had watched Curry consistently almost knew it was going in.

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The belief that the impossible was suddenly probable, solely due to Curry’s involvement — that was the most unfathomable part of all.