Warriors Curry Erupts in Win Over Magic

The baby-faced assassin said night-night to the Magic.

When No. 30 Stephen Curry has it cooking from downtown like he did Thursday night and like he has more often than any player in NBA history, his coach, Steve Kerr, who was a great shooter in his own right, just knows the ball is going in the basket.

Curry scored 56 points in Golden State’s 121-115 victory over the Orlando Magic and sank 12 3-pointers, including one from beyond midcourt that ended the first half with a bang.

“He’s had so many of those the last couple of years. As soon as he let it go, I said, ‘That’s in,” Kerr said. “I just felt it, and I thought that set the tone for the second half.”

Curry then came back out from the locker room and outscored the Magic by himself, 22-21 in the third quarter of his 1,000th regular season start.

“A lot of guys contributed to the win,” Curry said, “but it’s nice to have a flurry like that and have fun with it.”

It was Curry’s 14th game in which he scored 50 or more points, and he moved past the New York Knicks’ legend and Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing into 26th place on the NBA’s career scoring list with 24,867 points. He was very accurate from 3-point range, hitting 12 for 19, making 10 or more for the NBA-record 26th time in his career. The 56-point outburst fell six short of his career high.

“It never gets old watching it, I can tell you that,” Kerr said. “I think the fans here tonight, even the Magic fans, they know they’re witnessing the greatest shooter ever, and one of the greatest performers ever. It’s not just the shots going in, it’s the fluidity and the beauty of his motion, and the audacity, the shots he’s willing to take.”

Including the 50-footer just before the break, that gave the Warriors some much-needed energy and momentum going into the break.

“In the first half we had nothing going and he just kind of kept us afloat,” Draymond Green said. “And he continued that in the third quarter, completely took the game over.”

Curry fell one shy of his career high for 3-pointers and added to his legacy of big performances on February 27. He scored 54 points with 11 triples against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in 2013 and 46 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016 with 12 3s.

“When you have nights like these, you get them in all different types of ways … because you’re in the rhythm and the flow and the ball is finding you at the right time,” Curry said. “But you’ve got to have the footwork, the balance, the confidence to shoot it no matter what, no matter how they come, and be ready for your moment.

“So, I practice all of ’em, and on some nights it just flows.”

In a touching moment, he gave his jersey afterward to his mother Sonya, who was sitting in the stands, an easy toss from just a few feet away.

But this night was special and all about what Curry can do from distance.

“I try pretty much every shot at some point, just to let your creativity kind of flow,” Curry said. “It’s a way to have fun and kind of test your range, to see the ball go in from all the places on the court.”