Stephen Curry redefines shooting greatness in epic win over Thunder

Did Stephen Curry have the single greatest shooting performance in NBA history Saturday night? When you look at all the factors and the context surrounding the game, there's an argument to be made.

By Matt Moore

Feb 28, 2016 at 1:45 am ET • 4 min read

What the NBA world witnessed Saturday night in the Golden State Warriors' 121-118 overtime victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder was the single greatest shooting performance in NBA regular-season history. There have clearly been greater scoring performances than Stephen Curry's meager 46 -- Wilt Chamberlain's 100 and Kobe Bryant's 81 for starters. But those were built on the backs of free throws and volume.

Factoring the stage, the setting, the intensity, the situation of the game, the attention and defense constantly thrown at Curry through the course of the game, coupled with the absolute absurdity of the difficulty of the shots themselves, and the fact that Curry set an NBA record for 3-pointers in a season and tied an NBA record for most 3-pointers in a single game?

That was the single greatest shooting performance we've seen in the regular season. Klay Thompson's 52-point explosion last season gave him an effective field goal percentage (which factors 3-point makes) of 87.5, higher than Curry's 83 on Saturday. But that was vs. the Kings. Bryant's 81 was vs. a mediocre Raptors team. This was against the Thunder, on the road, vs. a desperate team at full strength on national television with OKC trying to prove it can actually challenge the Warriors in the playoffs.

Statistically, you can take any number of other performances throughout history. But in context? This was greatness. Watching it? This was greatness.

Curry's final shot to top his record-tying 12-of-16 3-point performance was this 38.4-foot shot, which won the game for the Warriors, sending them to 53 victories for the season. I've put it to some music so you can understand how the Thunder felt watching it:

38.4 feet.

Watch these shots, watch for how much the Thunder are working to lock in on him, using 7-foot Steven Adams to defend him, sending two defenders, scrambling everything they can to try and prevent him from getting a good look, and how Curry makes it all meaningless.

If you want the actual basketball impact from this game, it serves as yet another gut-punch, soul-crushing blow for the Thunder as they once again give the Warriors all they can handle and come away with a loss. Oklahoma City did everything, including getting huge performances from Kevin Durant (37 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and 7 of 11 on 3-point shooting) and Russell Westbrook (26 points, seven rebounds, 13 assists) and in the end, the only thing that mattered was Curry.

It should be noted that OKC played a tremendous game, and the Warriors played sloppy, disjointed and disconnected basketball for much of this contest. Many will walk away feeling that the Thunder showed why they're still the biggest threat to the Warriors simply rolling through the playoffs. Instead, you should realize that Stephen Curry is the ultimate nullifier. He nullified any advantage OKC built with its 62-32 rebounding advantage, or with its superior field goal percentage (47.9 percent to 47.4), or with its balanced attack with Durant, Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and key shots from Andre Roberson. None of it mattered, because of Curry.

Curry suffered an ankle injury early in the third quarter and missed several minutes. It didn't matter. Draymond Green went on a profanity-laced tirade in the locker room at halftime, which was reported by ESPN and confirmed by the team after the game, and it didn't matter. The Thunder led for three quarters, didn't matter, and had what Inpredictable.com reports is an 89.5 percent chance of victory with 33 seconds remaining in overtime. None of it mattered, because Curry bends reality to his will.

What Curry does should not be possible. When games play out the way this did, with the kind of strategy, execution and performance that both teams gave, the result should have been a victory for OKC. Instead, the Thunder are left grasping for answers while the Warriors' unbelievable season (that becomes more inevitable-feeling each day) continues.

That inevitability is the most interesting element inside of all the talk of a basketball game that was played Saturday. Everyone has lost their minds, rightfully so, over Curry's performance. Couldn't believe what he was doing, even NBA players were freaking out. Yet, this is the player that has been doing this all season. Curry's 38.4-foot 3-pointer was incredible, a shot that had the announcing staff losing its cool over how unbelievable it was, and yet, there was a sense when Curry launched it that it was going in. That all of those shots, no matter how contested, out of position, outside the realm of what has always been considered a "good shot" they were. You knew they were going in.

That's what Curry has done. He has made the unfathomable routine and yet the entire sports-watching world remains captivated, enthralled and overjoyed at witnessing what may already be the single greatest season in NBA history.

Curry had already secured the MVP. He had already secured the title as "greatest shooter ever" and has already made his stake for being the best player of all time, rivaling even Michael Jordan. On Saturday, he put the cherry on the sundae, the star on the tree. Curry has changed the course of basketball, of sports history, and oddly, the phrase that comes to mind was supposed to be about the pre-eminent greatness of another player whose career is rapidly spiraling into nothing more than a prologue drifting into the shadow of Curry's career.

We are all witnesses.