Stephen Curry is one step closer to revenge for LeBron James-led comeback in the 2016 NBA Finals

Few things motivate like the sweet sense of revenge.

AND steph curryafter leading his warriors of the golden state to a Game 5 victory on Wednesday night over the los angeles lakersnow he has a chance for serious revenge.

By beating the Lakers, 121-106, the defending champions closed the gap on their second-round playoff series to 3-2. If he wins in Los Angeles on Friday, there’s a chance for a rare kind of comeback — and a sweet reward.

In sports history, only 13 teams have made it back to the playoffs after trailing 3-1. And one of those returns, possibly the most impressive and important in history, came courtesy of Lebron James at the expense of Curry and his Warriors.

that was in 2016 nba Finals, when the 73-win Warriors team navigates to an easy 3-1 series lead, until the LeBron-led comeback occurred.

The King pulled his team out of a very, very deep hole, an act of basketball greatness that not only brought his then-Cleveland gentlemen team a championship. He also deprived Curry, klay thompson, dramond green and the rest of that 73-win Warriors team a chance to claim the title of greatest team of all time.

So what would it be, near the end of LeBron’s career, with his chances of winning another championship dwindling, for Curry to return the favor.

“Now it changes,” he told TNT’s Inside The NBA after the win. “I think we can play better. Obviously, I haven’t shot the ball well since three. Klay has been hit or miss. I feel like we can go one step further. That’s the beauty of the playoffs. Every game is its own narrative.”

You are right, of course. They can be better in large part because they have often been disappointing in this series. That’s why winning in LA, let alone winning the next two games, won’t be an easy task. And the machinery of the Warriors’ long dynasty still looks worn and creaky despite this win.

Curry could have scored 27 in the win, but he was only 3-for-11 from deep. As he pointed out, he’s been poor in this series on that front: 17 of 53, or just 32%. And he has not been the only one who has played well below the level we expected.

Thompson has also been lackluster, a pattern that continued Wednesday night. The fact that Golden State kept this series alive despite Thompson’s continued struggles (he had 10 points on a 3-of-12 shooting night) doesn’t take away from how much they could use his help in the future.

jordan poole it has also been mostly poor. Draymond Green, despite a terrific Game 5, hasn’t been reliable either. Steve Kerr has been so confused about who to turn to that he started JaMychal Green (zero minutes on Wednesday night) at the beginning of the series, and then Gary Payton II the last two games (20 total minutes in the first two games of this series).

They’re not exactly decisive things.

And this is still the team that won just 11 road games in the regular season. It’s still the team with so much drama hanging over it: the Jordan Poole incident last fall, the pressure to keep things rolling, the uncertain futures after this season for both Draymond Green and president of basketball operations Bob Myers. .

There’s also the matter of the daunting task of trying to get past James, a bane to this team in the past, the man who cost the Warriors that title and a huge part of history seven years ago.

We don’t know the status of antonio davis after he left Wednesday’s game with a head concussion, and other factors could certainly determine how things go from here.

But what Curry said after the victory is also true. They can be better. He can be better.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold, though Frank Sinatra said it best: that the best revenge is actually a massive hit.

If Curry, one of the game’s all-time greats, can take the next step he was talking about and lead the Warriors to a win on Friday night in Los Angeles, he’ll be on the cusp of both, serving up that revenge. to another. all-time great in LeBron all these years later. The chance to realize massive success at the expense of his rival is so tantalizingly close.