San Francisco – What a difference a day makes. The Warriors put on a shooting clinic and tied the series when they defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 137-122 Sunday night. Stephen Curry recorded a new career-high with a 62-point night and no one could stop him.
“It was a brilliant performance,” said Golden State head coach Steve Kerr. “We’ve seen Steph do so many things over the years, so many amazing nights at Oracle and now here at Chase. It’s just a privilege to coach him and not just because of his talent but because of the way he carries himself, the way he leads and we are incredibly blessed to have Steph leading the way. What a performance tonight.”
The Trail Blazers came out aggressive hitting 3’s from all over the floor in their last meeting Friday night. But tonight Curry controlled the pace from start to finish. While Portland kept a small lead early, it was Golden State who jumped to a 10 point lead five minutes into the first quarter.
While it was a team effort, Curry had 21 of the Warriors 36 points in the first. By the second period Golden State continued to maintain their lead with the second unit. James Wiseman finished the game with 12 points and 5 rebounds while Kelly Oubre Jr. added 17 points.
“To watch him in person, that was phenomenal,” said Wiseman. “He’s a legend so just watching in person was great. It reminded me of 2K because I used to play with Steph all the time and I used to drop like 60. Especially when it went into double overtime, I’d drop 72 or 82 points.”
Curry ended the first half with 31 points. He went 10-of-18 from the arc and made 8-of-9 free throws. The Warriors field goal percentage was 53% and the Trail Blazers was 39% that’s a huge difference compared to Friday night’s game. This time Golden State had 5 players in double digits.
By the third Curry set a new game high of 40-points at Chase Center. With a 20 point lead, Portland began to start chipping away as Damian Lillard met Curry shot for shot through the fourth. Lillard finished with 32 points, four rebounds and four assists.
“I could see it from the very first possession,” Draymond Green said. “I told Loon [Kevin Looney] early in the game like ‘hey you keep screening and get in his way, he not passing like something going on, he shooting the ball.’ That was great to see though. He came out looking like a man on a mission and that was right up there with one of his best performances that I ever witnessed.”
Curry finished with 62 points, 5 rebounds and four assists. By the fourth Curry stayed at the line, he’s never shot 18 free throws but tonight he did. He went 18-19 on the line and while the Trail Blazers held him to 26 points on Friday night, they couldn’t stop him today.
Curry set a career-high record for 62 points in a single game and also recorded his 7th career 50 point game. Klay Thompson scored 60 points in three quarters against the Indian Pacers December 6, 2016. Now they are both apart of an elite club and Curry couldn’t be more happy to share that with Thompson.
“I was around obviously when Klay scored 60, there’s a different enviornment, a different experience, you understand what that’s like, this was totally different but I’ll take it,” said Curry when asked what’s it like to play in front of no crowd.
Video by Sports Fans Rap
Curry talks about his heroic night:
Photo by Warriors/Twitter
