Growing up, Warriors star Steph Curry was considered too small for the game of basketball -- a stigma that followed him all the way to the NBA.
But now, with countless accolades and four NBA championships to his name, Curry's success over the years has silenced the naysayers. The star point guard remembers exactly when the narrative shifted, too -- a 109-105 loss to the New York Knicks on Feb. 27, 2013, at Madison Square Garden.
"It was probably my fourth year," Curry told the TODAY Show's Willie Geist on Sunday, who had asked at what point did the 35-year-old no longer feel like he had to prove himself in the league. "We had a game in New York at the Garden. I scored 54 points, but we lost that night. That game, specifically, just kind of changed the narrative of, 'OK, we've got to take this kid seriously eventually, because he's got game and he's fearless.' "
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The game launched Curry's rise to NBA stardom and put him on the radar of his competitors. After averaging 16.9 points per game across his first three seasons, Curry's fourth campaign proved he could hold his own as a sharpshooter in the league, with a 54-point masterpiece as the tipping point.
To this day, the Warriors' loss to the Knicks that night is Curry's third-highest scoring night of his 14-year NBA career.
It's certainly a night Dub Nation won't forget, either, as many also could point to it as a sign of the dynasty to come. And for Curry, it helped alleviate the underrated mindset he brought into the league -- though that hasn't left completely.
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"It's a tough one to explain because of what the resume looks like, but for me, it's like that healthy insecurity of the way that I've seen the game of basketball, life, from Day 1 has not changed at all," Curry told Geist. "I still have to prove to myself that I can still do it. That I can still do it, or I can still do it for as long as I can.
"That's what drives me. That underrated mindset oozes out of me at every opportunity."