PHILADELPHIA – Stephen Curry took off his No. 30 jersey and handed filled travel bags full of memorabilia to a Delaware police officer who stopped in full uniform to shoot hoops at the playground with neighborhood kids.
“That’s Curry! That’s Curry! a child yelled after Joshua Morris shot a long 3.
Curry put on a 3-point spectacle in Philly worthy of the trooper’s own effort.
Curry hit 10 three-pointers and scored 49 runs to extend his blistering trajectory, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 107-96 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
Morris later gifted the boy in the video – calling him his “hype man” – a pair of Curry’s basketball shoes. The video caught Curry’s attention, and he invited Morris and guests to the competition. Curry posed for photos after the game and walked back to the locker room without a shirt.
“He’s a great story … with the little kid who was hypnotizing him,” Curry said. ‘I had to show him some love. The love he showed the young man and just the basis of the impact he shared. It’s pretty impressive. “
Curry itself wasn’t that bad.
Curry’s 3 that took the game to 86 draws all netted him 11 consecutive games with 30 or more points, surpassing Kobe Bryant the most by any player aged 33 or older. Curry, who turned 33 last month, also has the longest 30-point game streak of a Warriors player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1964.
Curry had his fifth game with 40 points in April and topped Bryant and Michael Jordan for the most matches with 40 points in a month by a player aged 33 or older.
He buried 3 seconds late in the fourth to drag the Warriors past the top team in the Eastern Conference. Joel Embiid, who scored 28 for the 76ers, threw the ball out late and Andrew Wiggins scored on the other side to put the game aside.
The Sixers played without All-Star Ben Simmons (illness) and starting attacker Tobias Harris (20.5 points; painful right knee).
The Curry brothers went head-to-head – yes, in the City of Brotherly Love – in a spirited showdown from the very first minutes when Seth buried a 3 over his sibling. Steph replied with a tough 3 at the end of the first quarter and had 20 points in the half.
Even for Curry, his recent series of sensational shootings were among the best of his career. He averaged 43.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists in four games last week. Curry even shook off an injured left ankle that he turned in Saturday’s game against Boston to set the 76ers on fire.
‘There is something beautiful about it. It’s really an art, ”said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. ‘What he does is great to see. No one in the history of this game has ever done what they are doing now. “
In the history of the game?
Sixers coach Doc Rivers agreed, even pushing for an argument with his older brother in Chicago that Curry’s season rivals anything Jordan has ever accomplished.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like the flight he’s on,” Rivers said. “I guarantee you there is no one who has scored (points) the way he scored.”
Wiggins scored 16 points and Kevon Looney grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds.
Seth Curry scored 15 points and Danny Green hit four threes for 12 points. Embiid had 13 rebounds and was 11 of 14 from the free-throw line.
“He is a truly unique force in the competition today,” said Kerr.
Curry showed that he was still the best player on the field. Golden State’s 29-29 record could keep Curry from MVP consideration, but the franchise’s top scorer – who hit at least 10 3s for the sixth time this season – is still one of the best in the league.