Stephen Curry reminded everyone why he’s called the “Third Quarter King” with a commanding performance that helped the Golden State Warriors crush the Houston Rockets in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. His resurgence couldn’t have come at a better time, silencing critics and lifting the Warriors to a 2-1 series lead. The momentum shift in this game felt as dramatic as the turning point in a tightly contested BD Cricket Match.
In the first two games of the series, Curry had struggled—scoring just 18 and 16 points while going 2-of-13 from beyond the arc. The pressure was mounting. But in Game 3, he exploded for 35 points on 13-of-23 shooting, including five made threes out of 12 attempts. Even in the fourth quarter, with the game firmly in hand, Curry kept attacking and dropped another 8 points to cap off a brilliant performance.
What truly alarmed the Rockets was Curry’s shift in offensive strategy. Instead of settling for long-range threes early, he focused on driving to the basket, cutting off the ball, and finishing with finesse near the rim. That change paid immediate dividends—his first play in the third quarter resulted in a tough and-one layup. He followed that with three more two-point field goals, setting the tone for a jaw-dropping run. When his rhythm returned, so did his long-range accuracy. He nailed a deep three off a pass from Kevin Durant, then hit a step-back triple in isolation over James Harden, sending Oracle Arena into a frenzy.
Curry erupted for 18 points in the third quarter alone, guiding the Warriors to a 34–24 run and extending the lead to 21 points. Behind the scenes, Golden State had already started a subtle effort to support Curry—adjusting defensive matchups and staggering his minutes to avoid direct confrontations with Harden. This allowed him to conserve energy and stay sharp offensively, much like rotating bowlers strategically during a BD Cricket Match to keep pressure on the opposition.
Despite a slow start—just 9 points in the first half and 1-of-7 from three—Curry found his rhythm just when his team needed it most. On the Rockets’ side, James Harden and Chris Paul underperformed, combining for only 33 points. Paul, in particular, managed just 3 points all game. The Warriors, meanwhile, got steady contributions from Durant, who scored 15 in the first half, and Andre Iguodala, who added 10 on 4-of-5 shooting.
By the end of the third quarter, Curry was on fire, hitting all seven of his shots and both three-point attempts while adding three rebounds. It marked the 10th time in his playoff career he scored at least 17 points in a single quarter, with seven of those performances coming in the third. As he danced with joy and shook his shoulders after every big shot, the crowd roared like fans at a BD Cricket Match watching their team rally late in the innings.
Curry was back, and so were the Warriors. His third-quarter explosion led to a 126–85 blowout win, outscoring the Rockets’ star duo single-handedly. On May 21, the “Baby-Faced Assassin” delivered another iconic playoff performance—this time not just for redemption, but as a statement. The third quarter belonged to him, and there was nothing Houston could do to stop it.