Steph Curry passes Wilt Chamberlain as Warriors’ all-time scoring leader

With a driving layup in the first quarter of Monday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets, Stephen Curry surpassed the great Wilt Chamberlain to become the Golden State Warriors’ all-time leading scorer.

Curry, 33, entered the game needing 19 points to move past Chamberlain’s mark of 17,783 points with the franchise. He scored 11 points in the first 6 minutes, including a pair of 3-pointers in the opening 1½ minutes. He then made a pair of free throws and three more 3-pointers to put him in position for the milestone bucket.

Then, with 1:40 to go in the first, Curry put his head down and drove past Nuggets guard P.J. Dozier and shouldered his way through center JaVale McGeee before finishing with a right-handed layup. As he ran back on defense, Curry grinned and blew a kiss to the rafters, where Chamberlain’s No. 13 hung.

This was someone who entered the game knowing how close he was to Chamberlain’s mark and appeared motivated to get it done before he checked out at the beginning of the second quarter. He finished the first quarter with 21 points and helped the Warriors take a 33-32 lead over the fourth-place Nuggets.

In his 12th season with the Warriors, Curry is now the franchise leader in points, assists and made 3-pointers.

“Passing Wilt in anything statistically is remarkable because his name is just all over the NBA record books,” head coach Steve Kerr said before the game. “So the fact that Steph is about to break that record is just incredible and obviously a testament to what he’s done here in his 12 years.”

Chamberlain, who last played for the Warriors in 1965, had been the franchise leader in career points scored for 56 years. The Warriors’ all-time list now starts with Curry, and includes Rick Barry (16,447), Paul Arizin (16,266) and Chris Mullin (16,235) to round out the top five.