Steph Curry's career-high 62 points in the Warriors' win over the Portland Trail Blazers were seven points off Michael Jordan's personal best.
After a career night in which his jersey bore Jordan's "Jumpman" logo, Curry, fittingly, channeled His Airness in his post-game media availability. Not Jordan at his tongue-wagging and shoulder-shrugging swaggiest, mind you, but the legend at his pettiest and most hagiographical in "The Last Dance" docuseries, recounting all the slights -- real, perceived, and all of the above -- that fueled him to greatness.
All that was missing was his own brand of tequila and the cigar.
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"Cue the Jordan meme, right?" Curry quipped when asked by NBC Sports Bay Area's Kerith Burke if Sunday's performance was personal. "I take all that personally. [It was] just an opportunity to kind of assert my will on the game early and try to create some energy."
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It's probably a stretch to say Curry made Channing Frye his George Karl, or Damian Lillard -- after some rather tame observations -- his Isiah Thomas. Or, it is at least until Curry follows in Jordan's footsteps and releases his own documentary.
Whether or not Curry truly heard the chatter amid his and the Warriors' slow start through five games of an anything-but-normal NBA season, he silenced it one of the best performances of his career. Curry told Warriors TV broadcasters Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike that playing against a guard of Lillard's caliber helped him raise his game Sunday.
"It's always the best guys in the league, especially at the point-guard position, [who] bring the best out of you," Curry said. "And if you're around this league long enough, you kind of get to see every scenario and situation. We have a lot to fight for and a huge challenge in front of us. [The Blazers] are the established team now, [so] a guy like [Lillard], like I said, just brings the best out of you.
"And I love the competition."
Golden State Warriors
Curry and Jordan have that in common.