On Monday, November 20, 2023, at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry #30 celebrates their victory over the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association (NBA) by a score of 121-116. (Photograph by Jane Tyska for the Bay Area News Group)

Steph Curry was a key contributor to the Warriors’ victory over the Rockets on Monday night, which ended a six-game losing run. Curry played a total of 35 minutes, including the entirety of the fourth quarter.

The guard, who is 35 years old, did not start pleading for an ice bath until he was informed of his most recent historical achievement at the conclusion of his postgame radio interview.

Tim Roye, who has been the voice of the Warriors for a very long time, informed Curry that he had crossed the threshold of Nate Thurmond for the most minutes played in the history of the team.

Curry said in response, “Good gracious, I’m exhausted, and I have to go get in the cold tub.” “Don’t tell me that; that’s the kind of information you don’t share with me.”

Curry passed Thurmond’s total of 30,729 minutes played over the course of 11 seasons with Golden State, which he had accumulated by the middle of the final quarter. Because he was selected by the Warriors in 2009, he has already logged 30,735 minutes of playing time for the team.

Steph Curry’s coach, Steve Kerr, made the following statement on Tuesday: “I don’t know if anyone at his position, at his size, has played as effectively as Steph has at this age.” “I have no doubt that there are some names. As Steve Nash entered his late 30s, I was able to witness him playing at a high level. It seems as though Steph is accomplishing something that is simply on a different level. He is in a better state of health than he has ever appeared before.

Moses Moody, a third-year guard, stated that it is tremendously motivating to observe Curry’s longevity up close.

What is the proverb that says you should never meet your idol? As Moody put it, “He is the complete opposite of that.” As a kind of example of what is possible and what it takes to be successful, he serves as a model for others to follow. You put in a lot of effort to become the king of the hill, but after you’ve achieved that status, a lot of people take this opportunity to relax. When this occurs, the thrown is taken over by another individual. That being said, he is someone who is at the top of the heap, who is the king of the hill, and who puts in more effort than he did when he first arrived here.

After a turnover committed by the two-time Most Valuable Player, Kerr took Curry out of the game a little bit early in the third quarter. He then put Curry back out to start the fourth quarter with the opportunity to expand the lead by 11 points.

“I was going to try to get him out for a couple minutes in the middle of the quarter, but that opportunity didn’t present itself,” Kerr said after the game, as the Warriors’ advantage reached its highest point of 14. Due to the fact that we were definitely in need of this one, I remained with him throughout the entire fourth.

Curry made a veiled reference to the possibility that he would have appreciated the Warriors’ aggressive fourth-quarter rotation when he was younger and the Warriors were able to dominate their players.

“I might have (passed Thurmond) like three years ago had Coach played us a couple more fourth quarters back in the day,” he said. “Three years ago, I might have passed Thurmond.”