Stephen Curry put on a show during Wednesday’s 147-140 win over the Pelicans, splashing home seven 3-pointers for 23 points in the third quarter alone. He couldn’t have picked a better time to do it, too; the Warriors had trailed the New Orleans Pelicans by as many as 16 before Steph caught fire.
As entertaining as Curry’s third quarter outburst was, it wasn’t exactly anything new for the two-time MVP.
Less than two weeks ago, in a tightly contested Splash-fest in Sacramento, the Warriors guard made 10 threes against Kings. In Steph-gonna-Steph fashion, Curry took over late and scored 20 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter to secure the 127-123 win. Throw it back a little further to February of 2016 against the Washington Wizards. Stephen Curry made a statement early: 25 points in the first quarter on 7-for-8 from beyond the arc. He cooled off the rest of the way to finish with a fresh 51 points, one of six career games he’s put up a 50-spot.
Impressed by these 12-minute scoring outbursts? Well, we found a few more tidbits on Stephen Curry’s 20-point quarters for you all to enjoy…
In his 10 years in the NBA, Stephen Curry has had 25 quarters in which he scored 20 or more points. He had three such quarters through the 2014-15 season, but over his last three-plus seasons, he’s had 22 more.
Furthermore, Stephen Curry accumulated 11 (ELEVEN!) of those 20-point quarters in the 2015-2016 season. Perhaps that helped him in being voted as the unanimous winner of the MVP award?
The five-time All-Star seemingly likes to set the tone of the game for the Warriors with these performances as well. Of his 25 career 20-point quarters, seven (28%) of them were in the first quarter of games, and 14 (56%) have come in the third quarter.
There’s no question that Curry can get hot in a hurry. And judging by what he’s done as of late, it might not be too long until he does it again.