Stephen Curry’s Season of Milestones

There is no shortage of accomplishments for the Warriors No. 30. As the two-time (and first ever unanimous) MVP of the NBA, Stephen Curry’s achievements have evermore made a splash in the league’s history books.

But even by those standards, Curry closed out the 2020-21 season with a bang, making a run at MVP and awarded a coveted spot on the All-NBA First Team. However, Curry’s end of season accomplishments were just the tip of the iceberg for the 12-year veteran who made history throughout the course of the season, setting new franchise records and defining a season of milestones.

Just when we think we’ve seen it all from Curry, the three-time NBA champion makes us think again.

Jan. 3 vs. Portland | Warriors 137 – Trail Blazers 122Curry catapulted into the new year with a career-best 62 point performance in a 137-122 Warriors win over the Portland Trail Blazers on January 3, setting a new Chase Center scoring mark. The guard was locked in from the opening tip, finishing the first quarter with 21 points on 7-of-11 made from the field. By the end of the night, Curry’s effort got him to the line for 19 free throws, another career mark notched by the two-time MVP.

Curry’s 62-point output was the highest single-game total by any player this season. Furthermore, Curry was the fifth player in Warriors franchise history to score at least 60 points in a game, a feat most recently accomplished by fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson in 2016.

Jan. 23 vs. Utah | Warriors 108 – Jazz 127On January 23, Curry moved passed Reggie Miller (2,560) for second place on the league’s all-time made treys list. In typical Curry fashion, the sharpshooter sank a corner three with 10:59 left in the third frame for his 2,561st career trey in his 715th game, more than 650 fewer than it took for Miller to reach his career total. Curry finished the season with 2,832 career threes, making him 141 shy of Ray Allen’s NBA record (2,973).

Following the accomplishment, Hall of Famer Reggie Miller joined the postgame press conference to congratulate Curry on the achievement.

March 7 at All-Star Weekend | Curry Sets All-Star Event Record (31)Curry made a splash in his seventh appearance at NBA All-Star Weekend on March 7 in Atlanta, earning the 2021 MTN DEW Three-Point Contest title. The shootout came down to the wire with Curry sinking nine of his last 11 shots, including his last three, to edge out Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley by a single point in the final round (28). Curry, who posted an event-record score of 31 points (maximum is 40) in the first round, won the Three-Point Contest for the second time in his career.

Curry, who also won the event at All-Star Weekend in 2015, became just the seventh player to win multiple Three-Point Contests since the event’s inception in 1986 and is the first Warrior to win the contest since Klay Thompson in 2016.

The All-Star festivities continued through the day, as Curry started for Team LeBron in the 70th NBA All-Star Game. Team LeBron took the lead all four quarters, with Curry recording 28 points, four assists and two steals in a 170-150 win over Team Durant. The Warriors guard teamed up with fellow sharpshooter Damian Lillard on Team LeBron, with the duo combining for 16 made treys on 50 percent shooting.

March 15 vs. Lakers | Warriors 97 – Lakers 128Curry served a record-breaking 4,856th career assist to Kelly Oubre Jr. on March 15, passing Hall of Famer Guy Rodgers (4,855) to become the Warriors all-time assists leader and shattering a franchise record that stood for 55 years.

April 12 vs. Denver | Warriors 116 – Lakers 107Curry further etched himself in the team’s record books on April 12, scoring his 17,784 career point in the opening frame against the Denver Nuggets and passing Wilt Chamberlain (17,783) to become the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.

Curry came out firing in the first frame, finishing with a layup to earn the franchise scoring title that stood for 57 years. The three-time NBA champion finished the night with a 53 points, marking his third 50-plus point output of the season and 18th career game with at least 10 treys, the most in NBA history.

“To be anywhere near him in any record book or now be on top, it’s surreal and it’s wild,” Curry said of his accomplishment. “If you grow up in the game of basketball and you hear his name, you know it’s something extremely special, no matter what it is.”

April 19 vs. Philadelphia | Warriors 107 – Sixers 96With 47 points against the Boston Celtics on April 17 followed by a 49-point output against the Philadelphia Sixers on April 19, Curry became the first player age 33 or older to post back-to-back 45-point games since Michael Jordan in 2001.

The 49-point effort also gave Curry his fifth 40-point game in the month of April, passing Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan for the most 40-point games in a month by a player age-33 or older.

Curry’s historic scoring streak continued through the month of April, where he averaged an NBA-best 37.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 15 games. Curry became the first player in NBA history to average 35 points while shooting 50-40-90 during a calendar month and his 96 three-point field goals were an NBA record for a single month. Curry scored 559 points during April, including 13 games of 30-or-more points, the most in NBA history during a single calendar month. Curry’s monthly total has been surpassed by only two players in Warriors franchise history: Wilt Chamberlain and Rick Barry.

Curry’s spring splashfest resulted in being named Western Conference Player of the Month in both April and May, becoming the first Warrior to be recognized in back-to-back months.

Curry concluded the 2020-21 season as the league’s scoring leader, averaging 32.0 points per game while shooting 48.2 percent from the field, 42.1 percent from three-point range and 91.6 percent from the line, adding 5.8 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.22 steals in 63 games. At 33 years old, Curry became the oldest scoring champion since Michael Jordan who averaged 28.7 points per game in 1997-98 at the age of 35.

Curry also led the league this season in made 3-pointers with 337, the fourth-highest total in NBA history (he owns four of the top five season-long 3-point totals, including a record 402 in 2015-16), splashing a NBA-record 5.3 threes per game. Curry hit at least one three-pointer in all 63 of his games this season, giving him the third-longest three-point streak in NBA history at 125-straight games dating back to Dec. 1, 2018 (he holds the record with a 157-game streak).

Furthermore, the Warriors guard was a finalist for the NBA’s 2020-21 Kia Most Valuable Player Award and was named to the 2020-21 All-NBA First Team for a franchise-best seventh time. Curry also won the 2021 ESPY Award for Best NBA Player, as voted on by fans at annual Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly award show.

Curry’s 12th NBA season was one for the record books, and he punctuated it with a splash over the final two months. As the countdown toward the 2021-22 season continues, the three-time champion, two-time MVP and one-of-a-kind player has set the table to make even more history in the season(s) to come.