SAN FRANCISCO — If a fortune teller told you that Stephen Curry was going to make history in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, you'd probably guess that the Golden State Warriors would come away with a win. After all, Curry was coming off a jaw-dropping 43-point, 10-rebound effort in Game 4 that put him in the esteemed point-guard company of legends Magic Johnson and Jerry West. The possibilities, it seemed, were endless.
You'd then curse the shady fortune teller with all your heart when you realized the history that Curry made was of the ignominious variety. The greatest shooter of all time went 0-for-9 from 3-point range on Monday night, marking the first time in 132 straight playoff games — 233 straight games including the regular season — that he failed to make a single 3-pointer. Curry finished with 16 points, almost 20 below his average in the first four games of the Finals.
And yet this Warriors team, that had found basically zero offense outside of Curry in the Finals, worked, hustled and forced its way to a 104-94 win over the Boston Celtics to take a 3-2 lead and come within a single win of the franchise's fourth NBA title in eight seasons.