Steph Curry won another trophy in Cleveland.
Ho-hum.
But he did something even bigger Sunday night on the banks of Lake Erie.
He made the NBA All-Star Game must-see TV.
On a court with the best basketball players on the planet, it was the little guy who made the exhibition game fun, watchable, memorable.
The game might not have meant anything, and defense was non-existent, but Curry became the first NBA player to make 16 3-pointers in one game en route to 50 points, the second-most points in All-Star Game history.
It was a spellbinding performance. It was the perfect encapsulation of what makes the sport of basketball fun.
We’ve been blessed here in the Bay to see Curry play with joy on a near-nightly basis. Bless him for bringing it to an event that truly needed the boost.
Between the NBA honoring its top 75 players of all-time — including Curry — for their diamond anniversary and the game itself, Sunday was an outstanding show, led by the league’s ultimate showman.
It’s no coincidence that Curry used the word “show” again and again and again in his countless postgame press conversations.
Curry wants to entertain whether it’s an effectively meaningless regular-season game or Sunday’s showcase.
And he knows what the fans want.
There’s no debate anymore — the 3-pointer has overtaken the dunk as basketball’s favorite shot.
Blame Curry.
Before him, such a concept would have been laughable.
But dunk after dunk after dunk happened Sunday and it never really registered with the crowd.
Curry, though — booed mercilessly on Saturday and early Sunday — had them enraptured. By the time he was handed the MVP award — his first in eight All-Star Games — those boos had turned to cheers.
It’s one thing to win over an indifferent crowd. It’s a whole other kind of show to win over an aggressively and negatively partisan crowd.
But what else can you do when the smallest guy on the court (most of the time) is shooting from nearly 40 feet and turning around well before the ball rips through the net?
The 3-point shot has been in the NBA since 1979, but Curry found a new way to dominate.
Sunday night, those 16 3-pointers averaged just shy of 30 feet per shot. In all, Curry made 475 feet worth of shots.
The longest home run in baseball (remember that sport) last season went 466 feet.
“Steph… this guy is from a different planet,” LeBron James, the most impressive athlete to ever grace a basketball court and the star of the new ‘Space Jam’, said after the game. “To be out there and watch that kid from Akron, as well, shoot the ball the way he shot it was unbelievable. It was pretty cool.”
Not to bring a premature end to the All-Star break, but I couldn’t help wonder if Curry — dripping with mojo Sunday — will find himself out of his shooting slump once Golden State resumes their campaign on Thursday in Portland.
Curry had made 15 3-pointers — combined — in the Warriors’ last four games before the break. And that included an 8-of-13 performance against the Clippers.
It would be another welcome change for a team that needs a bit more of that joy, that one-of-a-kind swagger that Curry provides.
Either way, amid all of his great accomplishments — amid a steady stream of greatness over the last decade — Curry found yet another way to astound. In a building that hosted so many of those great moments, he was able to create another indelible memory out of a moment that could have been altogether forgettable.
He’s one of one, this Steph Curry.
And I can’t wait to see what kind of shows he’s set to put on for us in the weeks to come.
Source: www.mercurynews.com