Let it never be said that Steph Curry has no flair for the dramatic. After all, is there not a more dramatic way to cap off a 24-point quarter than with a banked-in half-court buzzer-beater? No, of course there’s not. That third quarter – including that buzzer-beater – was but a piece of the overall spectacle that was Curry against the Orlando Magic.
Simply put, he was sublime, as he’s been ever since last season, scoring 51 effortless points on the way to yet another Warriors win. He hit 10 three-pointers (the first of which was his 128th in a row, passing Kyle Korver for most consecutive games with a three), and if the game had been more competitive or if Marreese Speights hadn’t caught fire off the bench, he could have easily surpassed the record for most threes in a game (12).
10 threes. 20 FGs. 51 points. In last 50 seasons, no other player has had a 50+ pt game with 1 or fewer FTs. pic.twitter.com/O1VNC1KLNC
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 26, 2016
As an aside, “Curry” or “Steph” might now be the word for “sublime banality.”
While his 50-point explosions and supreme handles and incalculable range are all highlight worthy, they’ve all started to blend together a bit. This is now the norm for him, and as dominant as it might be, it continues to raise the bar for what’s exciting when it comes to Steph.
Ten three-pointers? Yawn. Faking out three defenders before whipping the ball behind his dead to a wide-open shooter? Boring.
Steph of course doesn’t care about what constitutes a highlight – all that matters is the win. And that’s not to say that it detracts from Steph or the Warriors in any way. It’s not a bad thing that this is happening, it’s just a thing that’s happening. As we’ve said before: when everything is a highlight, nothing is a highlight.
