Steph Curry's great reaction to playing 43 minutes in Game 4 vs. Kings

Steph's amazing reaction to playing 43 minutes in Game 4 win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

In a game the Warriors absolutely needed to win, Steph Curry played his highest minute total in a non-overtime contest this 2022-23 NBA season.

Curry, who finished with a team-high 32 points, played 42:42 in the Warriors' thrilling 126-125 victory over the Sacramento Kings in Game 4 of their first-round NBA playoff series Sunday at Chase Center.

And the Warriors needed every second Curry had to spare.

After the game, Curry spoke with ESPN's Malika Andrews and was made aware of the fact that he played nearly 43 minutes.

"For real?" Curry said to Andrews, with a laugh.

In the first four games of the series against the Kings, Curry has played 37:25, 40:46, 36:57 and now 42:42. With the series shifting back to Sacramento for Game 5 on Wednesday and back to San Francisco for Game 6 on Friday, the reigning NBA Finals MVP likely will be asked to play heavy minutes in order to keep the Warriors' season alive.

But conditioning is the least of Curry's concerns.

"The routine that I've stuck with, that'll get yourself ready," Curry told Andrews. "I'm not worried about that. It's kind of the mental process of being able to recover game-to-game. Like I said, I'm blessed to be healthy, good and strong. Relied on the energy of my teammates, so there's no worries at all."

Warriors coach Steve Kerr has tried to limit Curry's minutes throughout the season and into the postseason, but Sunday, he had no choice but to push his minutes to a place he hasn't gone much this year. The Kings kept making runs, forcing Kerr to leave Curry in the game.

Before Sunday's game, Curry had eclipsed 40 minutes in a game three times this season, but all three prior instances were overtime games (Jan. 19 vs. Boston; Feb. 1 vs. Minnesota; March 11 vs. Milwaukee). Game 4 against the Kings was the first time Curry has gone past 40 minutes in a regulation contest this season.

In a perfect world, Kerr would prefer to avoid overtaxing Curry, who finished 11 of 22 from the field and 5 of 11 from 3-point range in Game 4.

"I'd like to get those minutes down but every game is going to call for something different and he was brilliant out there tonight," Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area's Kerith Burke after Game 4. "They put a ton of pressure on us to start the fourth quarter and because of their run, I wasn't able to get him out for his rest mid-fourth. So that ramped his minutes up but he was brilliant, finished the game strong. Two days until the next game so enough time to rest but I'd like to get those minutes down for sure."

The Warriors were a plus-seven with Curry on the court Sunday, but a minus-six when he sat for the 5:18 he didn't play. If Kerr is going to rest Curry for 10 or 11 minutes per game, as he would like to do, Golden State has to win the non-Steph minutes.

As long as the Kings continue to take advantage of the Warriors with Curry on the bench, Kerr won't be able to rest his star point guard for very long.

RELATED: Curry pulls Webber timeout blunder, almost costs Warriors Game 4

While there are two days off until Game 5 at Golden 1 Center, there is only one day off until Game 6, and only one day off before a potential Game 7 on Sunday. The minutes are going to get more stressful as both teams fight to advance to the second round.

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