Stephen Curry delivered one of the greatest shooting performances in NBA history with his 54-point performance Wednesday night against the New York Knicks. He also put himself in elite company with his scoring efficiency in that game. Here's a rundown of just how excellent Curry was on Wednesday, despite the losing effort from the Warriors.
Stephen Curry scores 54 points vs. Knicks, makes NBA history
Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry carved out a spot next to Hall of Fame NBA performers with his historic 54-point night at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Bruce Bennett
- Curry led the Warriors in assists (seven) and tied Festus Ezeli for the team-high in rebounds (six). But his shooting line was ridiculous: 54 points, 18-28 from the field, 11-13 from three-point range, 7-7 from the free-throw line, an effective field goal percentage of 83.9 percent and a true-shooting percentage of 86.9 percent. The young sharpshooter set a franchise record with 11 made threes.
- Per NBA.com, he set a new individual NBA record for points in a game with 10-plus made threes, breaking Ray Allen’s mark of 47 points on 10 threes from April of the 2001-2002 season. Furthermore, his 92 points over two consecutive games is the highest total since Kobe Bryant stacked up 97 points in two games during February of 2009. He also shattered his career-high for points in a game (42) from 2010.
.@stephencurry30 goes OFF for career-high 54pts (18/28 FGs) incl. franchise record 11 threes. Historic shot chart twitter.com/nbastats/statu…
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) February 28, 2013
Now for some other random historical notes:
Steph Curry's eFG% last night was .839, third best in a 50-point game. Only eclipsed by Dana Barros (3/14/95) and Glen Rice (4/15/95).
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) February 28, 2013
Steph Curry scored 61.1 percent of his points last night on threes, the highest percentage ever in a 50-point game.
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) February 28, 2013
Here are some additional statistical nuggets, via ESPN Stats & Information:
Curry’s 54-point performance marks a new NBA single-game high for the 2012-13 season, moving past Kevin Durant’s 52-point outburst against the Mavericks.
His 11 made three-pointers set a Warriors fanchise record and tied Kobe Bryant for No. 2 (behind Donyell Marshall’s 12 3PTM) on the NBA’s all-time single-game list.
Steph’s 54 points in a losing effort was the fifth-highest total ever scored by a single player in a loss to the Knicks.
Finally, Curry carved out a special place in Madison Square Garden history. A player has scored 50-plus points in Madison Square Garden only 24 times in NBA history, and now Curry has joined Kobe Bryant (61), LeBron James (52, 50), Jamal Crawford (52) and Richard Hamilton (51) as the only active players to break through the 50-point barrier at MSG.
Over at Warriors blog Golden State of Mind, they got creative with their praise for Steph Curry after such a special night:
See More:
