Appropriately, the player who celebrated becoming the all-time 3-point king earlier this season made more history in the All-Star Game Sunday night inside Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. It took 47 seconds for Steph Curry to splash the first 3-pointer, setting up his latest performance etched into the record books.
By the time it was over, Curry had 50 points on 16 3-pointers, obliterating the previous All-Star record for 3s in a game (9; Paul George, 2016) and narrowly missing out on the All-Star scoring record, too. In Andrew Wiggins’ All-Star debut, with the injured Draymond Green featured prominently on the Turner Sports broadcast, it was still Curry who managed to steal the show.
After hitting his 16th 3-pointer, Curry finished a floater to reach 50 points — two shy of the All-Star Game record (52; Anthony Davis, 2017) — but he missed his final six shots and passed up another sure-fire bucket for an assist, leaving him just short of another record in an otherwise marvelous showing in his eighth and most spectacular All-Star appearance.
“I tried to put on a little bit of a show,” Curry said afterward. “The joy started to come out, and hopefully everybody appreciated it.”
50 PTS
17-30 FG
16-27 3FG#StephGonnaSteph ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/HGqgUZdaFD— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 21, 2022
Afterward, commissioner Adam Silver presented Curry with the Kobe Bryant MVP Trophy, the first time he has taken home All-Star Game MVP honors.
🗣️ MVP, MVP, MVP pic.twitter.com/cSOg11emqV
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 21, 2022
Curry had eight 3-pointers by the end of the first half, also an NBA All-Star Game record and matching his previous personal best for an All-Star game, which came just last year. In eight All-Star appearances, Curry has now made 47 3-pointers, Sunday night marking his fourth with five or more in a single game. He dazzled Sunday night, hitting from 30-plus feet seven times, maxing out at 36, 13 feet behind the painted arc.
“I mean, Steph, come on, man. This guy is from a different planet,” said LeBron James, who hit a step-back jumper to seal the game. It was a homecoming for both of them, born in the same Akron hospital.
“He literally has an automatic sniper connected to his arm,” James continued. “When he lets it go, not only himself, but everybody on the floor, in the stands, on TV, on their phones, whatever you are watching on, you think it’s going in every time. Nine times out of 10 and sometimes 10 times out of 10 it does go in.
“To be out there and watch that kid from Akron as well shoot the ball the way he shot it, it was unbelievable. It was pretty cool.”
Curry has a long history at All-Star weekend (and in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, for that matter), and he went volcanic Sunday night in Cleveland. Fans there haunted by his past Finals performances were conflicted between cheering for Team LeBron and booing its top scorer. Curry’s six second-quarter 3-pointers also set an All-Star game record, which he broke again with seven in the third quarter, heating up in a way he hasn’t exhibited often over the previous three months.
“It obviously means there’s history here. Fans I think appreciate it, but it comes out in the form of boos,” Curry said. “I enjoy it because it’s not the first time or the last time. It takes some energy to boo. You’ve got to care a lot to do that. So I try to channel that into the performance tonight and just have fun with it. I got hot early and kept it going.”
Going forward, the Warriors can only hope Curry’s sweet stroke Sunday night ignites something in him down the stretch. Curry practically willed the Warriors into a play-in spot last season, averaging 36.9 points over their final 24 games. Exiting the All-Star break this year, they have 23 games to play, a 1.5-game lead on the No. 2 seed and don’t know when Green (or James Wiseman) will return.
Over his career, Curry has averaged 25.3 points per game after the All-Star break, or about 1.5 per game more than before it. The trend has held up after his most nuclear All-Star performances, too. Curry’s numbers have gone up after all of his three previous best All-Star performances: his scorching finish last season came after scoring 28 on 8 3-pointers in the All-Star Game; and his scoring totals increased after dropping 26 and 21 in back-to-back All-Star games in 2016 and 2017.
Making his All-Star debut, Wiggins got his first bucket on a set-up by Atlanta’s Trae Young, who found a cutting Wiggins on the baseline, and the Warriors’ wing finished with two hands at the rim.
First career #NBAAllStar bucket for Wiggs pic.twitter.com/iI4Un8VINa
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 21, 2022
Wiggins managed three more baskets — finishing with 10 points, seventh on Team Durant — thwarted in part by his Golden State teammate.
In addition to his prolific offensive performance, Curry played like he had something to prove on the defensive end.
Curry earned bragging rights over Wiggins early on. He rejected a layup and playfully signaled that he was locking down his teammate. Curry sent back a Jayson Tatum layup attempt not long after, the only two blocks of the game.
On the broadcast, Green confronted Curry about his defensive effort in the exhibition contest notorious for lacking it.
“Why are you playing so much defense, bro?” Green asked.
Curry laughed and responded, “Hey, you’ve been out for a couple weeks, so I’m trying to step it up and pick up where you left off. I’m the only one with a block in this game and not only do I have one, I got two. So I’m trying to fill up the stat sheet. Just don’t get mad at me when I give up a back cut when you get back.”
“Why are you playing so much defense bro?”
This @StephenCurry30 and @Money23Green exchange 😭 pic.twitter.com/5V9Nz4TiLm
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 21, 2022
Embedded on the bench of the team he was drafted on to — not playing due to a back injury — Green provided entertaining sideline reports for the TBS broadcast. Earlier this season, he signed a first-of-its-kind deal with Turner Sports to appear as an analyst while still actively playing in the NBA.
Dressed in a sharp orange and brown suit, Green playfully chided his teammates to play harder — “We win, my bonus is bigger,” he told them — and made for some memorable moments mic’d up with Curry.
Afterward, Green found Curry on the court and greeted him, chanting, “M-V-P! M-V-P!”
"MVP! MVP!"@Money23Green hyping up his @warriors teammate @StephenCurry30 after his historic #NBAAllStar performance 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/aUKPo17phS
— NBA (@NBA) February 21, 2022
“We win, my bonus is bigger.” 😂@Money23Green mic’d up court-side at #NBAAllStar on TBS pic.twitter.com/jzs9g3HnIT
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 21, 2022
