Steph Curry went from hot to nuclear Wednesday night, and only Warriors coach Steve Kerr could cool him off.
Curry came out shooting against the Washington Wizards, scoring 51 points in three quarters of a 144-122 win at Oracle Arena. That was just three points shy of Curry's career high, but Kerr decided to keep his star guard on the bench for the entire fourth quarter.
So no career high for Curry, but it was the sixth 50-point-plus game of his 10-year NBA career and tied for his third highest. He shot 15 of 24 from the field, including 11 of 16 on 3-pointers, and hit all 10 of his free-throw attempts in 32 minutes.
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He also joined Warriors teammate Klay Thompson with an impressive feat.
Curry, one of the league's best-ever shooters, scored a career-best 54 points in a Feb. 27, 2013 game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. He played all 48 minutes in that game and hit 18 of 28 shots, including 11 of 13 from 3-point range. He also made all seven of his free-throw attempts. All that is eerily similar to Curry's line Wednesday.
Curry also scored 51 points against the Wizards on Feb. 3, 2016, and against the Mavericks on Feb. 4, 2015, and the Magic on Feb. 25, 2016. His second-highest total was 53 in an Oct. 31, 2015 road game against the Pelicans.
Golden State Warriors
Curry entered the game above his career averages with 30.5 points, 52.9 percent field-goal shooting, 46.8 3-point shooting, 5.0 rebounds and 7.8 assists. So, his 2018-19 is off to an amazing start, even by Curry's standards.
In case you were wondering, Wilt Chamberlain holds the single-game record for points in the Warriors' Bay Area history. He scored 73 in a 1962 game against the Knicks.