SCORING EXPLOITS AND OTHER DELIGHTS
DEC. 5 Thompson scores 60
In the Warriors’ 142-106 win over Indiana on Dec. 5, Klay Thompson reinforced that he is perhaps Golden State’s most explosive scorer. The catch-andshoot maestro scored 60 points in 29 minutes to become the first player since the shot clock was introduced in 1954 to hang 60 in fewer than 30 minutes.
Because the Warriors had such a big lead, Thompson sat out the game’s final 13-plus minutes. He became the first Golden State player to reach the 60point mark since Rick Barry scored 64 against Portland 43 years earlier. The only other Warriors to reach that mark are Wilt Chamberlain and Joe Fulks.
Not even teammates Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant, who boast a combined five NBA scoring titles, have scored as many points in a game as Thompson did against the Pacers.
More confounding than Thompson’s feat itself was how he did it. With his All-Star teammates leaving him gobs of space, he shot 21-of-33 from the field, including 8-of-14 from beyond the arc. Thompson needed only 88.4 seconds of possession, 52 touches, 33 shots and 11 dribbles.
NOV. 7 Curry sets 3-point mark
To cement his legacy as the best shooter in NBA history, Curry has piled up a laundry list of mindboggling records.
In the Warriors’ 116-106 win over New Orleans on Nov. 7, he added another bullet point to his resume. Curry’s 13 three-pointers broke the NBA singlegame mark he had shared with Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall. Three nights after having his record streak of 157 games with a three ended, Curry torched the Pelicans with a season-high 46 points on 16-of-26 shooting (13-of-17 on threes).
Curry, the only player to lead the league in threepointers five times, admitted he’d converted at least a few “bad” shots. On one second-quarter shot, he knifed through two defenders before pulling up for a 26-footer. The official play-by-play gave it the accurate description of “running jump shot.”
JAN. 18 Durant’s 40-point game
Durant delivered some of his most dominant performances this season against the team he played with for eight seasons before he joined the Warriors in July. The best came in Golden State’s Jan. 18 home rout of the Thunder, when Durant reminded his former Oklahoma City teammates — including Russell Westbrook — of his do-everything skill set by scoring 40 points on only 16 shots (13 of which he made) to go along with 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks.
It was the first time a Warriors player had scored 40 on 16 or fewer shots in the shot-clock era. After being limited by foul trouble in the first quarter, Durant went 4-for-5 from the field in the second to help power Golden State to a 121-100 win.
Durant played in three of the Warriors’ four games against his former team (he missed Golden State’s March 20 road win with a knee injury) and averaged 37.7 points and 9.3 rebounds.
MARCH 28 Kerr fastest to 200 wins
With Golden State’s 113-106 victory at Houston on March 28, Kerr reached 200 wins in the fewest games in U.S. professional sports history. It came in only his 238th game.
The next fastest in NBA history to reach 200 wins was Phil Jackson — he did it in 270 games, 32 more than Kerr. The quickest manager in Major League Baseball was Frank Chance (272 games), and the fastest coaches in the NHL (Dan Bylsma, 316) and NFL (Don Shula, 282) took even longer.
In addition to Kerr’s feat, that win over the Rockets was memorable because it underscored that the Warriors were still the class of the Western Conference. Houston, which has leaned on its long-range exploits to become one of Golden State’s biggest threats in the West, missed 26 three-point shots. James Harden finished 5-for-20 from the field and 1-for-9 from beyond the arc, with six turnovers.
FEB. 10 Unusual triple-double
In the Warriors’ 122-107 win at Memphis on Feb. 10, Draymond Green became the first NBA player to record a triple-double without double-digit points (11 rebounds, 10 assists, 10 steals, four points). It was a defining performance for a player who, on a team stocked with elite scorers, is content to facilitate and defend.
Green’s 10 steals against the Grizzlies, seven of which came in the first half, broke the franchise record of nine shared by Barry and Micheal Ray Richardson. Green fell one shy of Kendall Gill’s NBA record set in 1999. The last time a player had 10 thefts in a game was eight years ago, when Portland’s Brandon Roy did it in a game against Washington.
In addition to Green’s double-digit rebounds, assists and steals, he blocked five shots. It hardly mattered that he shot 2-for-6 from the field and 0-for-3 from three-point range.