What we learned as Steph Curry’s dazzling 29 in return not enough for Warriors

BOX SCORESAN FRANCISCO – And on the 65th day, Steph Curry was back to where he belongs: Playing basketball for the Warriors. The sun shone brighter and food tasted better this Easter Sunday, knowing Curry was making his return after missing 27 straight games because of a lingering issue from runner’s knee. His warmups alone were a spectacle. Then came the game.Another Sunday night for the No. 10-seeded Warriors became a cinematic event that ended in a 117-116 last-second loss to the Houston Rockets. The Warriors rallied back to make the game come down to the final shot with Curry’s 30-footer bouncing off the rim.Curry played 26 minutes off the bench and scored 29 points as a team-high plus-12. The Warriors’ superstar shot 11 of 21 from the field and 5 of 10 beyond the arc. The rest of the Warriors’ bench scored 32 points.Former Warrior Kevin Durant showed out for the Rockets, scoring a game-high 31 points, while also adding eight rebounds and eight assists.Here are three takeaways from Steph Curry’s first game since Jan. 30. He’s BACK&excl;No more waiting, only celebrating. Watching Curry in his No. 30 Golden State jersey is something Warriors fans have seen for nearly two decades now. But their first glimpse of him out of his warmup gear was much different than usual. Like he did to begin the 2022 playoffs, Curry made his return coming off the bench. That’s extremely rare for him. So rare that the last regular-season game Curry didn’t start was more than 14 years ago on March 7, 2012. When Curry started stretching during the timeout he entered the game, Dub Nation gave him a rousing standing ovation. Chase Center got LOUD to welcome Steph back pic.twitter.com/qCVZ39tT8Z — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) April 6, 2026 HE’S BAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKKK pic.twitter.com/uCojYUWThf — Dalton Johnson (&commat;DaltonJ&lowbar;Johnson) April 6, 2026 Curry, in his first stint, immediately found new Warrior Charles Bassey for a big dunk, was called for a travel and sank a deep three as he found his shooting rhythm. Knocking some rust off, Curry began feeling it in the second quarter as a shooter and cutter. He scored seven points in the second quarter, bringing him to 10 in the first half on 4-of-10 shooting. Another triple for the Chef &zwj;pic.twitter.com/XP2GHhAunK — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) April 6, 2026 Right when the game started to get out of control, Curry cut the deficit. Curry in the third quarter dropped 11 points in under eight minutes, giving him 21 points in 19 minutes going into the fourth quarter. He checked in with 6:56 remaining and the Warriors trailing by 12 points. His eight points in the fourth quarter were enough to give the Warriors a late lead, but not enough for a win.The OG Splash BrothersBefore the elder Curry came back onto the court, the younger already was making the nets splash from long distance. Seth Curry entered at the 8:38 mark of the first quarter and drained a 3-pointer just 36 seconds later. Warriors coach Steve Kerr, during his pregame press conference, said he planned to play the Curry Brothers together for the first time. After subbing around them, Kerr eventually stuck to his word. With 6:19 left in the second quarter, the Curry Brothers finally shared an NBA court. The OG Splash Brothers are finally on the court together pic.twitter.com/QYFEcWkJ32 — Dalton Johnson (&commat;DaltonJ&lowbar;Johnson) April 6, 2026 Just like that, Seth was sent back to the sidelines exactly one minute later. Of course, Steph made a three right when Seth sat down. The two combined for 16 first-half points, with Steph scoring 10 and Seth adding another six. The two made up the Warriors’ backcourt for the majority of the final four minutes of the third quarter. That’s when Steph brought the acrobatics and had Chase Center on its feet. Steph is back to hitting ridiculous shots without getting the foul call All is normal again pic.twitter.com/fc9dxT16Os — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) April 6, 2026 The and-1 plus the shimmy &zwj;pic.twitter.com/g8tGvgq3g1 — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) April 6, 2026 Nonetheless, history was made between two of the greatest shooters the game has ever seen. While his older brother, of course, was the star of the show, Seth was a plus-6 with six points in 13 minutes.SC X KP Even more so than playing with his brother, the most anticipated combination was between Curry and Kristaps Porziis. What would the duo look like together? How would teams guard them? Fittingly, Curry’s first made three came at the end of the shot clock with him running behind a Porziis screen. Yup, he's still Steph Curry pic.twitter.com/e0NaHSSWcl — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) April 6, 2026 Kerr also admitted pregame that Curry and Porziis had yet to even scrimmage together. The two have spoken at length about what a pick-and-roll between them would look like, but actually doing it is much different than just envisioning it. Porziis didn’t play a ton with Curry through the first two quarters and went into halftime with four points but also four rebounds and two assists.To open the second half, with Curry still on the bench again, Porziis threw down a huge dunk on Durant for a three-point play. About a minute later, he did so again on Durant and Jabari Smith Jr. KP goes KABOOM pic.twitter.com/qk6thFqdEh — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) April 6, 2026 Problems then came for Porziis and the Warriors when he was whistled for four fouls within the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter, putting him on the bench and the Rockets in the bonus. He had five fouls through three quarters with the Warriors down by 10 points. Porziis picked up his sixth and final foul with 10:13 left in the game and the Warriors down by seven. Two free throws from his foul put the Warriors in a nine-point hole. Porziis in 23 minutes was a minus-10 with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting and eight rebounds. Assuming Curry starts as soon as Tuesday night, it will be paramount to have them build chemistry the rest of the season.Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

What we learned as Steph Curry’s dazzling 29 in return not enough for Warriors

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