There is no official evidence that Steph Curry’s pregame performance is related to his performance in the game.

But the fact that the Golden State Warriors star needed only two attempts to hit his famous Oracle Arena tunnel shot before Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against New Orleans on Tuesday was as good a sign as any that he was ready to go.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Curtis Jones, the longtime Warriors security guard who has been Curry’s set-up man on the tunnel shot for so many years now, told a young boy after the shot went in.

He couldn’t have been more mistaken.

Curry, who returned from a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee on March 23, had 28 points and seven rebounds in the Warriors’ 121-116 victory. He made his first appearance in the game with 4:20 left in the first quarter, surrounded by roaring cheers and the booming piano intro to Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.”

Steph, that was more like it.

As Jrue Holiday scrambled to catch up, the two-time MVP curled off a Kevon Looney screen and found a familiar spot on the deep left wing. From 29 feet out, the release is smooth. Swish. It was as if he’d never left.

“It was funny,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Curry’s first basket. “We called a play that we like to run just to get some movement, just to get the ball moving, and the ball swung to him and he launched.” That didn’t surprise me. That’s just who he is. That was a good time.”

Curry didn’t stop there, hitting a floater in the paint and another three with his right foot planted near the ‘A’ in the “Oracle Arena” logo near the right sideline – 32 feet out, and good once more. By the second quarter, with the Warriors trailing 29-27, Curry had made three of his four shots and both three-pointers while scoring eight points.

At halftime, the Warriors led 58-55, with Curry’s plus-15 rating leading the team by a wide margin (Shaun Livingston’s plus-7 was second). He also led the team with 12 points after connecting on five of his first seven shots.

There would be plenty more in the second half.

Curry, ever the showman, buried another deep three-pointer with 48 seconds left in the third quarter and then struck one of his statue-style poses as the Warriors led 86-80.

From there, he kept the pressure on, making up for the struggles of fellow All-Stars Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant (10 of 34 combined shooting early in the fourth before Durant, who finished with 29 points), who both struggled.

The Pelicans fought much harder than they did in Game 1, with Anthony Davis (25 points, 15 rebounds) leading the way and all five starters scoring at least 14 points.