-
Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN writer
SAN FRANCISCO — In an effort to inject some joy and juice into the Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry celebrated his first three-point basket Thursday night by jumping and waving his arms in the air as if he had thrown a touchdown.
By the time Curry hit his final 3-pointer of the night, he ran back to the Warriors’ bench with his mouth open and his arms moving up and down early in the fourth quarter. In a historic shooting career, the Warriors superstar had his most accurate night behind the arc, going 8-for-8 with 30 points, 10 assists and six rebounds to lead the Warriors to a 139-105 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers in Persecution Center.
Thursday’s performance marked Curry’s most 3-pointers without a miss in his career and he came within one of tying the NBA record for most 3-pointers without a miss in a game, according to ESPN Research. Curry is also the first NBA player to go 8-of-8 from behind the arc and dish out 10 assists in the same game.
“He deserves these nights,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Everything he does for us and puts up with it. It’s a lot of fun to watch him do this. And our fans and our coaches, we’re all spoiled watching him play night after night.
“But we have to appreciate these nights. He won’t be here forever, and he’s one of the most beautiful basketball players who ever lived and we’re lucky to get to see him.”
And Curry did all of this with a sprained right thumb on his shooting hand. Curry was listed as questionable on the injury report and said his status was uncertain. He practiced the day before but tried to protect his shooting thumb.
“He barely practiced yesterday,” teammate Draymond Green said. “He walked around practicing doing everything with his left hand… Seeing him come out and have the game that he had, it kind of sums up Steph.”
The Warriors desperately needed this kind of easy win. Entering the game, Golden State had lost 13 of 17 games after a 12-3 start.
They came out with their best performance since November. Seven Warriors scored in double figures. They shot 60.9% from the field, including 22 of 39 from behind the arc. The ball was also moving as Golden State recorded 43 assists on its 53 baskets.
The Warriors snapped a 22-game streak in which they failed to shoot 50% from the field. That’s why Curry said he wanted to celebrate his first 3, which opened the game, to cheer up his teammates.
“Sometimes when you have a little injury or something random, it forces you to focus a little bit,” Curry said. “And just be free. [I was] I’m happy to have been able to play. I was a little unsure as I started the day. I didn’t have many attempts in the first half, but all four were very good rhythm shots and then from there you just flow with the joy of things going our way and having a day where Dennis [Schroder] scored three in the first half, JK [Jonathan Kuminga] came in and hit some big shots, Moisés [Moody]”Everyone was feeling the rhythm of the night.”
Curry even hit a 3-pointer off the glass and reacted like he couldn’t believe it went in.
His last two 3-pointers came on consecutive shots. The first was a 31-foot pull-up and the last was a 28-foot pull-up that gave the Warriors a 116-86 lead with 9:12 left.
When Curry was near the bench, he was amused and held up his bandaged right thumb while looking at his hot hand.
There have been too many nights that ended in frustration over the last month, leading Curry to assess that the Warriors’ play has been “average” following a 113-95 loss at home to Cleveland on Monday. But Golden State (17-16) has won two of its last three games.
“I know what I said last game and I meant it,” Curry said of the team’s average game. “Because you are what your record says you are, and we’ve been playing below-average basketball for a long time. Obviously I take responsibility for a lot of that and at the end of the day you just want to play free and have fun.
“I celebrated my first three and just to try to infuse some joy into the game, so we have to try to maintain that, even if the shots aren’t falling during a certain stretch of the game, stay focused.”
