Saturday night, one of the game's all-time great players made history at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, G.A.
Despite a 141-134, overtime loss at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors' guard Stephen Curry poured in 60 points. In doing so, Curry joined Kobe Bryant as the only players in NBA history age 35 or older (Curry will be 36 on March 14) to score at least 60 points in a game. Bryant famously capped his hall of fame career with a 60-point performance against the Utah Jazz in his final NBA game in 2016, at the age of 37.
Curry, in 41 minutes on Saturday, was outstanding from the field (22-of-38) and shot from three-point range at a high clip (23 attempts), but made 10. He also had six rebounds and four assists. Despite solid bench production from Brandin Podziemski (15 points, 11 rebounds, five assists), and Lester Quinones (17 points), and a good game from starting forward Jonathan Kuminga (16 points on 6-of-12 from the field), Klay Thompson made just four-out-of-19 field goal attempts and managed only two three-pointers out of 13. He finished with 10 points. Curry and Thompson combined for 36 of the team's 56 three-point attempts.
On the Hawks' side of things, Trae Young (35 points, six assists, 12-of-21 from the field) was spectacular, while Jalen Johnson scored 21 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and dished out eight assists in 43 minutes. Dejounte Murray added 19 points, seven assists, and five rebounds, while Clint Capela had 17 points and 15 rebounds. Onyeka Okongwu, off the bench, put up 22 points and 16 rebounds, and Bogdan Bogdanovic also off the bench, finished in double figures, despite a poor shooting night in which he made just five shot attempts out of 16. He scored 13 points.
The Hawks shot 48.2 percent as a team to the Warriors' 44.6, and made 14 three-pointers out of 43 attempts. Both teams shot a combined 96 three-pointers, which is to be expected when you have three of the league's top gunners (Curry, Thompson, and Young) on the floor at the same time.
The Warriors dropped to 21-25 with the loss (12th in the Western Conference), and play at Brooklyn on Feb. 5, a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. For the Hawks (22-27) it was their fourth straight victory, following wins over the Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Lakers, and Phoenix Suns. They are one game and a half up on the Nets for 10th place in the Eastern Conference. Up next for them is a stern home test against the Los Angeles Clippers, who will play the final game of a seven game road trip. The Clippers defeated the Miami Heat on Sunday night, 103-95, and stand at 33-15, a half game back in the Western Conference.
The performance by Curry was just the second 60-point game of his career. Exactly 37 months ago to the date (Jan. 3, 2021) he scored 62 points on 18-of-31 (8-of-16 from three-point range) in a 137-122 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
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