Is Stephen Curry feeling that mythical power known as old-man strength?

I ran that question by Curry’s personal skills-and-conditioning trainer, Brandon Payne, because how else do you explain that a 36-year-old athlete seems to be reaching a new level of physical performance?

Curry scored 36 points two games ago against the Oklahoma City Thunder and 37 on Tuesday against the Dallas Mavericks, two wins for the Golden State Warriors in which Curry seemed to overpower weaker foes, especially at the end of the games.

Payne laughed at my suggestion. Fine, I’m used to that. Payne has been pushing Curry to higher heights since they got together in 2011 and is an expert in human physical performance. Even Payne admits to being impressed with what Curry is doing in this, his 16th NBA season.

“I was watching him against Oklahoma City and I was thinking, ‘Man, he looks really big. He looks really strong,’” Payne said by phone from North Carolina, where he operates Accelerate Basketball. “There’s some of that (old-man strength) in play. The thing is, physically, he’s in the best position he’s ever been in.

“I hate it when people say that, because it means you weren’t doing your job before, but that’s not the case with him. He’s just continuing to get better and better and better, and at this age, it’s quite remarkable.”

Also remarkable is that Curry seems to be strongest in crunch time. On Tuesday against the Mavericks, Curry took over the game at the end, scoring the Warriors’ last 12 points. He hit his game-sealing “night night” 3-point jumper over, and in the face of, Dereck Lively II, who is 7-foot-1 and 20 years old.

Curry is the game’s best closer, a sign of superior strength and stamina. Last season, he received the Jerry West Trophy as Clutch Player of the Year, and he has the same thing going this season.

Curry’s “night night” special Tuesday against Dallas stirred memories of the iconic photo of Curry at last summer’s Olympics, drilling a jumper over the reach of France’s 7-4 Victor Wembanyama. In the gold-medal game, Curry hit his game-sealing 3-pointer over two defenders, 6-7 and 6-8. The trend is to attack Curry with taller defenders, but it’s not working. Maybe the Mavericks should have guarded Curry with Kyrie Irving sitting on Lively’s shoulders.

If Curry really is stronger, and Payne should know, it’s not because he got bigger over the summer. Curry hit 200 pounds a few years ago and has stayed there, not varying by more than a pound or two, lording his self-discipline over the rest of us. Klay Thompson said his Achilles tear might have been the result of dropping into a pickup game when he was 10 pounds overweight. That will not happen with Curry. When he hits 201, his inner scales set off warning sirens.

Curry continues to defy physical logic. Playing for the U.S. last summer should have been physically taxing, but it was light exercise for Curry, who wore down opponents in the last two games of the tourney. In the gold-medal game, he drained four 3-pointers in the final three minutes. Worse for Warriors’ foes, Payne contends, the Olympics provided Curry with mental exercise, adapting to international play and new teammates.

“You’re looking for a challenge,” Payne said, “and the Olympics provided that stimulus, and I think you’re seeing a slingshot effect of his mental preparedness and his mental sharpness, from the Olympics to now.”

Payne is a science guy, and he’s also a psychologist. He trains Curry as an individual, but with the goal of maximizing what Curry can do as leader of a team, and Payne sees this Golden State team as a group that is eager to be led.

“It starts with Steph, and he certainly makes everybody around him better,” Payne said, “but I think this is a group of guys that all have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder, and they all have a little bit of sense of urgency about themselves and their careers, and I think you’re seeing a group of guys that are playing with urgency. I think you’re seeing that effort just overwhelm some opponents.”

Play harder. That seems kind of rah-rah high-schoolish, but when your two team leaders, Curry and Draymond Green, are bringing fire and brimstone every night, that can be infectious. It has been for 11 games.

Can that level of group intensity be sustained for months? There are plenty of skeptics. But if opponents are waiting for Curry to slow down, they might be disappointed.

“We haven’t seen the top yet,” Payne said. “We’ve got a long way to go.”

Ah, but Father Time is undefeated.