If you’re still reeling from the Bulls’ manhandling of the Dubs on Wednesday night, we’ve got you covered.
Roughly a year ago, it was a day to remember for Warriors and Knicks fans alike. On that fateful and historic night, Stephen Curry produced one of the greatest three-point shooting performances in NBA history. His 11-of-13 line from beyond the arc was almost enough to counteract the inevitable sting that came with the Warriors loss that night, but it was the stage on which Curry accomplished his improbable feat that really made it into the legendary performance that it’s seen as today.
Indeed, the Warriors point guard could hardly have picked a better regular-season game to go on such a torrid scoring outburst. Facing the 33-20 Knicks at Madison Square Garden in a game televised on ESPN, Curry proved to the NBA once and for all that he is the premier sharpshooter in the game. He accomplished what he’d done night after night at ORACLE Arena (albeit in much grander fashion) in front of a national audience, and he’s been on the map ever since.
Let’s take another look at Curry’s other-wordly performance that night as he and the Warriors prepare for their return to the Garden on Friday night:
11:08, 1st quarter: Curry misses a three-pointer. He would go 11-of-12 on threes thereafter.
3:41, 1st quarter: Curry dances forward and drops a pretty floater in the lane to give him four points on the night.
9:00, 2nd quarter: Curry hits a three-pointer from the corner, his first of many.
7:48, 2nd quarter: Prigioni sags off. The result? Another Curry three-pointer.
6:41, 2nd quarter: Really, another one?
5:13, 2nd quarter: Melo gets lost on D, leading to a wide open three. This is getting ridiculous.
4:26, 2nd quarter: Curry misses a 25-foot three—his final miss of the night from beyond the arc.
10:45, 3rd quarter: Felton gets lazy, and he leaves Curry wide open in the corner. It’s too easy for him at this point.
0:05, 3rd quarter: Curry jumps around and uses a Festus Ezeli screen to knock down a tough 27-footer. He’s just getting warmed up.
10:00, 4th quarter: Roughly one mile beyond the three-point line, Steph hits a deep three in transition, bringing the Dubs to within one.
7:11, 4th quarter: Curry dribbles behind his back, slips past Felton and hits his ninth three of the game, again pulling the Warriors to within one.
4:43, 4th quarter: On the most dramatic play of the night, Curry grabs the rebound off an Anthony miss, runs the floor and hits a ridiculous three in transition to give the Warriors a 100-99 lead. Draymond Green’s subsequent high-give attempt is denied.
3:42, 4th quarter: Curry’s final three of the night comes off an inbound pass and puts him over 50 points on the night. It also gives the Warriors a 103-102 lead, but it’s not enough to ensure the victory.
If you want to see the highlights, here you go:
Notable accomplishments from that night, courtesy of SB Nation:
- No other NBA player has made 10 or more three-pointers in a game while scoring as many points as Curry did.
- No other player in Warriors franchise history has hit as many three-pointers in a single game.
- Curry’s Effective Field Goal Percentage was .839, the third best total ever recorded in a 50-point game.
- 61.1 percent of Curry’s points that night came off of three-pointers, the highest total ever in a 50-point game.
- Curry finished one three-pointer shy of tying the single-game NBA record.
Curry will have a chance to repeat his performance against a much-diminished Knicks squad that sports a winning percentage 254 points lower than when the teams last met in New York. The man who is supposed to “guard” Curry on Friday is Raymond Felton (who didn’t do much guarding during the 54-point game last year), but the Knicks point guard was arrested for criminal firearm possession on Tuesday morning. That may or may not have any effect on the game’s outcome, though it certainly doesn’t bode well for the Knicks. Better yet, the Dubs are rolling along on a four-game winning streak, and Curry is hitting .497 percent of his field goals in February, including .492 from beyond the arc. All signs point to another explosive performance from the Warriors’ three-point wizard.