The Loop
Watch Stephen Curry connect on the greatest heat-check of all-time
Remember in the original NBA Jam when a player got hot and the announcer bellowed “HE’S ON FIRE!”? You then had a certain amount of time in which that player would make any shot, no matter how absurd? That was fun. It also happened in real-life on Wednesday night.
Stephen Curry established he’s the greatest perimeter shooter of all time (And if you’re still one of those old people backing someone else, just stop. You’re embarrassing yourself.) years ago, but the Golden State star's latest performance might be the most ridiculous reminder of that indisputable fact.
Curry connected on 11(!) of his 16 three-point attempts in three quarters of action in the Warriors' 144-122 thumping of the Washington Wizards, but it was more about quality than quantity. Once Curry got cooking he couldn’t miss from anywhere, including draining the greatest heat-check of all time. Have a look:
We’ve seen Curry pull up from deep before, but from that deep? With a guy all over him? That’s just unfair. And here’s a more complete highlight package of Steph’s shooting exhibition. At 30 seconds, he hits a shot in which the net literally doesn't move and at 1:10 he does the Jordan shrug after a particularly long shot from the left wing.
Of course, we probably should have seen this coming after the guy made this bounce-shot in warm-ups:
We’re just waiting for him to attempt in a real game that over-the-head half-court shot he nailed in practice a couple weeks ago.
Curry sat out the fourth quarter and had to settle for 51 points. And if you feel like you’ve seen this before, well, that’s because you have. This is the sixth time Curry has made at least 11 three-pointers in a game. The rest of the NBA has a total of eight such games. Curry also holds the record for the 13 he made in a 2016 game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Even more incredible? Of those six games, the 11-of-16 showing (69 percent) is Curry’s worst percentage. So this was actually a bad 11 3-pointer game for him. Yeah, the rest of the NBA has no chance.