Last night the NBA reminded us why college hoops is so big time. Let’s just get into it last night The Garden had another high level performance from a visiting opponent, and you know when a visitor has a big night in New york it’s normally a for real big night, and last night was no different.
My man Steph Curry went H.A.M. on the Knicks last night scoring 54 points. It was crazy because I honestly didn’t get to see the entire game. When I turned it on it was the 4th quarter and he was on the screen and ESPN had his stats at the bottom of the screen and I saw 49 points with a lot of time left in the game, and my jaw dropped. Not because it was Curry who did it on em, but because the last 2 guys to go in on the Knicks like that in the Garden was Kobe when he hit 60+ and LeBron back in his Cleveland days going for 50+.
Before last night his career high was 42 points, and the season high for any player was 52 by Kevin Durant. Not only did this dude light’em up for 54 but he hit 11 3 pointers in the process, and when the Knicks began to pressure him on the perimeter he started driving to the basket and on fastbreaks he would rush down court and pull up for three, and hit. The thing is there’s no way for me to explain how he was hitting these shots you have got to go to ESPN or NBA TV and see the highlights go to YOUTUBE or something trust me.
One shot was so dramatic it was like watching a movie. My man comes down, keep in mind they’re swamping him around the 3 point line. He pulls off some crazy move while handling the rock then pulls up over 2 Knicks and the ball just kind of floats up in the air like a Hail Mary Pass in slow motion and gradually gravitated to the rim “splash” nothing but net.
The crowd was silent when the ball left his hand and when it hit you could hear the mixed emotions in the crowd. Gasps, groans, and cheers. The city of New York, I’ll say this much for them, no doubt they’re rooting for their home team but when they see a special performance they know it and respect it. Yeah you hear the boos but that’s only because it’s happening to their team but they still give props at the same time and by the time Curry had scored 23 points in the 2nd quarter alone they knew what kind of night it was about to be.
The pain was eased a little bit when Raymond Felton finally, and by finally I mean literally the last minute of the game, got a stop on Curry when he blocked his shot which lead the Knicks going down and scoring eventually getting the win behind Melo’s 35 including a 3 pointer late in the 4th to give the Knicks the lead, and 26 from JR Smith who hit the final shot to extend the lead by 5 with less than 40 seconds left in the game. Also not being mentioned by anyone Tyson Chandler had 28 rebounds to help out as well. I say the pain was only eased because last night’s game still exposed the defensive struggles the Knicks are experiencing partly due to injuries. Those injuries include Rasheed Wallace being out 8 weeks to have surgery on his foot.
I started off the article by saying last night’s performance reminded me of college hoops. The reason I say that is because if you watched him play at Davidson especially at tourney time then you knew he had the potential to light the league on fire. A lot of people doubted his ability on this level because of his physical frame, but people forget dude’s a shooter period. Shooters can make it in the NBA and play forever (see Reggie Miller frail but deadly). Watching Curry play for 2 years in college made watching him transition into the NBA intriguing.
That’s another reason I’m always trying to turn NBA fans into college hoop fans too. It’s fun watching these guys in their prequels to the NBA. Once again the big dance is just around the corner I suggest you tune in and see who the next Steph Curry coming into the league will be, because he showed last night he’s a rising superstar in the NBA. Last night’s performance put him into pretty good company.
Curry is now 1 of the top four players to have big nights at MSG. Kobe’s 1 point performance puts him first, MJ is second with 55, Curry is third with his 54 and James is fourth with 52. Again I say that’s pretty good company.
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