Steph Curry put on a show Sunday night and put a bow on All-Star Weekend in Cleveland. Curry had 50 points on 17/30 shooting from the floor, including 16/27 from three-point range as Team LeBron defeated Team Durant 163-160 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Cleveland fans booed Curry throughout All-Star Weekend, but he turned to jeers to cheers after this special performance.
The 16 threes are an All-Star game record, and he fell two points short of the All-Star record of 52 points, which Anthony Davis set in 2017.
Curry has done a lot during his NBA career. He’s won two regular-season MVPs, three NBA titles, but he’s never won an All-Star MVP. After his fantastic performance, Curry became the first recipient of the Kobe Bryant Trophy as he was named All-Star MVP.
“This is definitely special,” Curry said. “The first year you got to honor Kobe and his life and his legacy with this trophy. All the thought that went into it. I can’t spit it off the top I my head, but I know that everything on this trophy means something in terms of his life and what he represented, accomplishments on the court, and to have it be an All-Star MVP trophy and for it to be the first one, it definitely makes it special. I’ve only won one, and to have this one, it will have a special place at my house.”
Both Curry and LeBron James were born in the same hospital in Akron, Ohio, and it was fitting that James, who spent many years with the Cavaliers, would be the guy that hit the game-winner, which Curry discussed postgame.
“Yeah, I told him on the court after the game it was kind of a perfect ending,” Curry said. “I was chasing that extra two or three points. I think DeMar(DeRozan) hit a big shot, and then he came out and hit the game-winner. It was kind of a perfect ending. Obviously, I got the MVP; I played well the whole night. He hit the game-winner. All the history of our series and the Akron ties, and all that kind of going into how the night went, so it was pretty — can’t really draw it up any other way. It’s right on the nose of how it should go.”
At halftime, the NBA, which is celebrating its 75th season, honored the top 75 players in league history, and Curry, who was on the list, enjoyed being around some of the greats of the game.
“It definitely took me back to just growing up watching the game,” he said. “There was a moment we were out there; we didn’t want to leave the stage. I don’t know if anybody saw. I was just enjoying the moment. With me, D-Wade, CP, Bron, Giannis. Somebody else was over there. We were all kind of just acknowledging how we were like kids in a candy store laughing and just what was actually happening and what that accomplishment actually means, and you look around and see all-time greats that we looked up to coming up in the game.
“I couldn’t stop smiling. I don’t think I will for a while. You see the names on the list, and you understand and appreciate when the announcement came out that you made the team and all that, but when you see them in person, and you feel like the aura of what they were and are in terms of history of the game, it’s just a whole different experience. That was special.”
The Warriors(42-17) are 6.5 games behind the Suns(48-10) for the top spot in the Western Conference. Golden State is expected to get back All-Star Draymond Green and James Wiseman, and Curry is excited about what the Warriors could be going forward.
“All we can do is control what we can control, and I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job of that so far,” Curry said. “Like you said, we’ve had a lot of injuries, and we haven’t been whole in a very long time. When Klay(Thompson) came back, Draymond was out the same night—still waiting on the three of us to take the floor again. But it’s all kind of shaping up to try to peak at the right time. Hopefully, Draymond is back quick. Still got Wise (James Wiseman) on the burner, ready to make his appearance this year, and then figure out what our rotation is going to look like going into the best part of the year. But to be in that conversation again after last two years that we’ve had, I’m pretty rejuvenated and excited to be back in that atmosphere.”
The Suns will be without Chris Paul for the rest of the regular season, so maybe the Warriors could make a push for the top spot in the West in the final seven weeks of the season. No matter what happens with Phoenix, Golden State is a legitimate contender for an NBA title.
