Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors celebrates after making the game-winning shot to defeat the Houston Rockets at Chase Center on January 21, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images/AFP
Stephen Curry hit the first buzzer-beating game-winner of his illustrious NBA career on Friday, draining a step back jumper to lift Golden State to a 105-103 victory over the Houston Rockets.
Curry, the smooth shooter who this season broke the league’s all-time record for three-pointers, was clearly thrilled to add another scoring achievement to his resume.
“About time!” Curry told an on-court TV interviewer. “That’s my first one!”
"It's about time I made one!"@StephenCurry30 enjoying his first-career #TissotBuzzerBeater 😂 pic.twitter.com/gF46hSSJlW
— NBA (@NBA) January 22, 2022
Curry scored 22 points, but for much of the night there was frustration for him and his Warriors teammates, who trailed Western Conference stragglers Houston by as many as 15 points.
A day after falling in overtime to the Indiana Pacers, the Warriors got off to a slow start, Curry himself missing nine of his 10 attempts from the field in the first half and letting his frustration show when he kicked a courtside chair.
The Warriors trailed 54-43 at halftime, but scored 33 points in the third quarter to go into the final quarter with the score knotted at 76-76.
It was 103-103 with 11.5 seconds remaining when Houston’s Garrison Matthews missed a three-pointer. Golden State got the rebound and on the inbounds after a timeout got the ball to Curry.
“This whole game was crazy,” Curry said. “Back to back, we were kind of stuck in the mud and trying to find our way through it.”