With a little over six seconds left in overtime of Saturday’s game between the 53-5 Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Stephen Curry got the ball and casually, almost lazily, jogged up the court. On a night in which he had already scored 43 and drained 11 three-pointers in ever-escalating and dazzling brilliance, standing a mere 38 feet from the hoop, he flicked his wrists, effortlessly swishing home a record-tying 12th trey.
Take a gander at the Thunder bench in particular. Long before the ball reaches the rim, they’re already steeling themselves for the crushingly inevitable result. They know what’s coming.
What Stephen Curry is doing shouldn’t be possible. He’s taking and making what appear to be terrible, no-good heat-check heaves, the kind that would get any other player pinned the bench followed by a serious tongue lashing by a boiling mad spittle-flecked coach. But for Curry, they’re some of the best, most efficient shots in the game.
According to ESPN’s Ethan Sherwood Strauss, as of Feb. 25, “From 28 feet to 50 feet, he’s 35-of-52 this season. Better efficiency than making 100% of your 2s.” Ryan Feldman added that he’s nailed 50% of his shots from 30-plus feet (11-22), whereas the rest of the NBA has only hit 7.9% (53-669).
What makes this all the more improbable is that we’re not talking about a seven-foot behemoth like Shaquille O’Neal or even LeBron James, bursting down court like a gazelle if said gazelle also checked in at a hulking 6-9 and 275 pounds. This lithe, dancing,shimmying, holy fool on first glance scans as a relatively normal-sized and –shaped human, when in reality he’s anything but.
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