PORTLAND, Ore. — Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry hit 12 3-pointers and scored 48 points during Sunday night’s 136-131 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. It marked the fifth time in Curry’s career that he has hit at least 12 3s in a game.
As disappointed as he was that the Warriors couldn’t close out the win, even the 37-year-old had to admit that knocking down that many 3s in a game was a cool experience.
Advertisement
“It’s nothing you ever think about going into a game,” Curry said. “It’s just a rhythm thing. Getting a nice flow, getting some looks, which is weird because I only made two in the first quarter. And you slowly start to see the right pictures and keep shooting. It is fun. There’s definitely like a flurry in the middle of the game where you start to feel the rhythm and energy of the crowd, whether it’s home or road. I don’t know how to explain it other than that. It’s fun.”
Dallas Mericks swingman and Curry’s former Warriors backcourt-mate Klay Thompson is next on that list with three games of at least 12 3-pointers.
Sunday marked the 16th time Curry has hit at least 11 3s in a game. Thompson and Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard are next on that list with four such performances.
The game also marked the 28th time in Curry’s career that he has hit at least 10 3-pointers. Thompson is next on that list as well with nine such outings.
“It’s great,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said of Curry. “Fun to play with him. Fun to watch someone so special do that. I think that’s maybe the fourth or fifth time now this year where he’s had games like that and we let it get away. So it can’t be all for nothing, and it ain’t his fault. So we got to figure it out.”
Sunday’s performance was quintessential Curry as he rained down 3s from all over the floor. Curry, who finished the night 16 of 26 from the field and 12 of 19 from beyond the arc, was in rhythm throughout the night as evidenced by the several instances he took a shot and then started running the other way down the floor before the ball was through the net.
Curry finished with 21 fourth-quarter points, the 44th time in his career he’s had at least 20 points in a quarter. He finished with 33 points in the second half. Curry’s 12 3-pointers are the most by any player in a game this season.
Advertisement
“They’re all tough,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Sunday’s loss. “But when you make 24 3s, Steph makes 12 of them, you should win the game. Obviously, couldn’t stop them. They made 20 3s themselves. It was a great game. It was a wild game. And we’re just not closing games. I think we’re 5-9 now in clutch games. We’re not closing close games down the stretch. And we got to find a way to do that.”
The attempt that will likely stick with Curry the most is a running layup he missed on a drive to the rim with about 29.6 seconds left that would he given the Warriors the lead. Curry drove to the rim but couldn’t get the shot to fall — then he stared into the distance in disbelief. On the next Warriors possession, with the Blazers clinging to a three-point lead, Curry got trapped and turned the ball over while trying to pass to Green.
As special as the performance was, Curry still couldn’t get over that it had to come in a loss.
“The game dictates the emotion obviously in the sense of how you try to get to the finish line with a win,” Curry said. “We played well enough to win, we just didn’t get enough stops. … It was one of those tough nights that you want to he back. We scored enough to win. Didn’t get enough stops.”
After missing five straight games because of a quad injury, Curry scored 39 points in Friday night’s loss to a Minnesota Timberwolves team playing without Anthony Edwards. The Warriors he struggled to find consistency all season, but they will rue these two losses in particular because they weren’t able to take advantage of Curry’s brilliance.
Once again, it felt as if Curry did enough to win the game but the rest of the group collectively didn’t pick up enough slack behind him. Kerr was asked whether the Warriors’ continued issues late in games are more about execution or something mental.
Advertisement
“They go hand in hand,” Kerr said. “If you execute well, you’re disciplined, that’s the mindset that you need to he, and you gain confidence from that. And we hen’t built that late game, slash, execution confidence to this point.”
With another 40-point game, Curry passed Michael Jordan for most 40-point games after turning 30. Curry has 45 such games; the Chicago Bulls legend had 44.
“Just cool recognition and longevity,” Curry said of passing Jordan. “Obviously, I’d like to celebrate it with a win, but again, any time you’re doing anything with certain names in this league, historically, that definitely means something.”