OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Stephen Curry let it fly from the top of the arc, backpedaled as his record-breaking 3-ball dropped and then wildly began bobbing his head and shuffling his feet with the swagger of a two-time reigning MVP.
Add another remarkable achievement to a long list of them for Curry: most 3-pointers in one game.
The star guard sank 13 to set an NBA mark — one game after missing all his 3-point tries for the first time in two years — and the Golden State Warriors beat the winless New Orleans Pelicans 116-106 on Monday.
“This was a special night,” Curry said.
He finished with 46 points, three days after his league-record streak of 157 games with at least one 3 was snapped when he went 0 for 10 on 3-point tries in a 117-97 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I was hard on myself in practice the last two days. I had pretty good shooting sessions,” he said. “I don’t overreact to games like that whether I go 0 for 10 or 2 for 12 or whatever it is. My process is the same, but I had another level of focus the last two days trying to get my rhythm back and see the ball go in.”
Curry shot 13 of 17 from beyond the arc in his seventh career game with double-digit 3s. He broke the mark with 2:23 to go and bobbed his head in delight as the crowd roared.
Curry shared the previous 3-point record of 12 with Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall.
“Nothing you can do about it. He was being Steph,” Pelicans star Anthony Davis said.
Grabbing back the spotlight from new Golden State star Kevin Durant, Curry raised his right arm and pumped his chest all night, howling and pointing as one shot fell after another. He went 16 for 26 overall in his first 40-point performance after leading the NBA with 13 last season.
Warriors fans enjoyed every minute of it, chanting “M-V-P! M-V-P!”
“That was quite a show. Not at all surprising the way Steph bounces back from bad nights,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.
