SAN FRANCISCO, January 05, (THEWILL) – Golden State Warriors shooter Stephen Curry celebrated his best scoring night ever with a career-best 62 points as Warriors beat Portland Trail Blazers 137-122 in what was the highest-scoring game in the NBA this season.
Curry finished 18 for 31 and eight of 16 on three-pointers after beginning with a 21-point first quarter. Playing his 12th campaign in the NBA, Curry scored his 10th career 30-point half to help the Warriors go into the break at 66-54.
Then, the majestic 32-year-old doubled his total exactly with his wildly exuberant teammates telling him his count at every chance to both encourage and spur him on to a daring finish. There was only one small blemish in an otherwise brilliant night: his streak of free throws was snapped at a franchise-record 80 in the first. The run dated to March 2019.
Yet that did nothing to the emphatic performance Curry put in for the Warriors’ victory. He made a career-high 18 of his most attempts yet at 19. The 6ft 3in Curry even took it right at imposing seven-footer Jusuf Nurkic, the Bosnian centre player for the Trail Blazers, without blinking.
It was such a remarkable all-round play by Curry that Terry Stotts, Portland coach, remarked after: “He did a little bit of everything.”
It was the kind of night Curry could not wait to get to play in after a broken left hand limited him to only five games in the coronavirus-shortened 2019-20 season. The 32-year-old becomes the second oldest player to score over 60 points in a game. Kobe Bryant is the oldest at 37. Curry’s previous best performance was 54 points against the New York Knicks in February 2013.
As his teammates celebrated with Curry after the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr was a picture of controlled excitement. In so few words, he captured what the team felt: “It’s just a privilege to coach him, it really is,” Kerr said.
Curry’s teammate, rookie James Wiseman painted the picture well when he said: “He was making every shot within like 10 seconds and we couldn’t even keep up.”
