NBA playoffs: Stephen Curry's ...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Amid the pyrotechnics and flames shooting into the air of Golden 1 Center, there was a still on the sidelines — one that could’ve suggested after so many years of going through the playoff gauntlet the Golden State Warriors didn’t recognize the severity of a Game 7.

Already with his warmups off before the Sacramento Kings were announced, Stephen Curry looked steely and perhaps amused.

“Not as long as I’m still breathing,” Curry said to Yahoo Sports, upon the notion that he could be written off, that his team could be “too old” as Malik Monk candidly stated recently.

The Game 7 was old hat, but Curry still has more mountains to climb, more orneriness to shoot off from those fingertips.

Doubt him to your own peril, be it in the hallowed and historic TD Garden of Boston or the newness and novelty of Sacramento’s building.

Curry was determined to send the Warriors to a date with destiny, another dance with LeBron James. A record 50 points later, the date is set following a 120-100 series-clinching win over the Kings on Sunday afternoon.

The scoring was the highest-ever mark in a Game 7, besting former teammate Kevin Durant’s 48-point performance two years ago, in a Brooklyn Nets loss to Milwaukee.

Oh, how special it would be if Curry and Durant could tangle for one last dance in the conference finals, but both have monumental tasks in front of them before either can begin to fantasize.

“It’s amazing, you’re still in the fight. It’s better than the alternative,” said Curry of one more series against James. “Having been down 0-2 in this series, nothing’s guaranteed. It is special to know, from the first series we’ve played to now, we’re still playing at this level. A new chapter.”

But that’s the standard he’s set and maintained even around a league that’s changing every day — because he’s seemingly mastered the game as opposed to breaking it and now he manages to maneuver around it and through it as everyone tries to catch up.

Curry made his living all over the floor, darting inside for shape-shifting layups and then, easy floaters that brought the same reaction Boston natives felt last June, that air-sucking, life-draining feeling of inevitability.

And when Curry and his teammates couldn’t shoot straight — best believe, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole missed more than their share of open shots, not taking advantage of the gravity Curry created — there was Kevon Looney.

During the decisive third quarter, Looney gobbled up every possible rebound, taking the will from the Kings and dominating Domantas Sabonis. Looney grabbed 10 offensive rebounds — 7 in the third that seemed to frustrate the Kings and quiet the crowd.

It was then where it felt like Game 7 was no longer an opportunity for the Kings, and the Warriors began to use it to notch one more improbable win on their decade-long resume. Like Bane told Batman in “The Dark Knight Rises”: “You merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, molded by it.”

The Warriors live in this exhausting fishbowl of pressure, expectations and champagne, yet somehow managed to show more energy than the youthful bunch. The thought of this being the end never reached the point of desperation, but determination and focus, highlighted by Looney.

“We enjoy that pressure. We enjoy those lights. You appreciate it,” Draymond Green said. “I told you guys before the game and we put ourselves in a position to play and one of the highest-pressure situations that you can be in. Embrace it.”

Looney did more than embrace the ball; he engulfed it. His 21 rebounds represented the third time he’s reached that mark in the first round and also showed how different this Warriors team is from all the other vintage.

De’Aaron Fox couldn’t keep up his magic, and after strong starts from rookie Keegan Murray and Terence Davis, the Kings couldn’t sustain it. Sabonis was thwarted by Green and Looney, and they unraveled in the second half after taking a two-point lead into the half they felt fortunate to have.

Curry scored 30 of his 50 in the second half, as the Warriors pulled away and he seemed determined to shut off the lights in Golden 1 Center. He didn’t do it by himself, but it felt like it sometimes — a scary sight if anyone else’s lights come on next round.

“He doesn’t surprise me. We all take him for granted because he’s brilliant night after night,” Kerr said. “This is one of the great players in the history of the game. But that’s how I felt back when I [was] in my playing days, you know with Michael Jordan, you just see it night after night. So you just took it for granted.”

Luckily for Curry, he doesn’t take this for granted, vanquishing one valiant opponent and marching toward another.