The basketball world wanted a Steph-Trae show and the basketball world got a Steph-Trae show Monday night at the Chase Center.
Warriors superstar Steph Curry and Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young are often compared for their otherworldly shooting, insane handle, deft passing and ability to creatively finish at the rim. They went back and forth trading magic tricks Monday night but Curry was on another level, dropping 50 points with 10 assists in the 127-113 Warriors win.
“He was amazing,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “I wanna say I’ve never seen anything like it. But I’ve been watching him for seven years and I have seen something like it. Still, it’s just incredible to watch.”
Steph started off hot by scoring 10 quick points and finished with his first 50-burger of the season on 14-of-28 shooting, including 9-of-19 from 3-point range. Young dazzled in the first half with behind-the-back passes, sick drives, sweet passes and trifectas but didn’t really factor in the second half as the Warriors went on a patented third-quarter run to electrify a raucous crowd.
The Dubs closed out the third on a 19-3 run after closing out Sunday on a 20-3 run in a victory.
Curry exploded for 18 during the period and carried the momentum into the fourth quarter, when he rattled in a 3-pointer to make the crowd go buck wild.
The Warriors received a big scare in the first quarter when Curry appeared to hurt his left shoulder running into a screen. He went to the bench for a few early minutes and iced himself, but returned scorching hot. Curry and Young had some tit-for-tat moments, but Young only scored seven points in the second half.
The Warriors switched to a box-and-one defense against Young after making a halftime adjustment. Curry said he loved being on the other end of the box-and-one, as he's usually the one getting dogged by opposing defenses.
"We tried a little gimmick defense on our own to try and slow their rhythm down a little bit," Curry said. "It worked. On a night like tonight, you gotta be able to make those adjustments on the fly. Especially against a player as dynamic as he is and was in the first half."
The Hawks led by as many as 15 in the second half before a Draymond Green to Andrew Wiggins oop helped ignite a run to close out the half, including a late 3-pointer from Curry that shaved the lead to four.
Curry said that splash set him up for the third-quarter explosion.
"That's when you wait for the avalanche to fall, and it did," Curry said.
While Curry had a big hand in the second-half domination, Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney also carried the team during its third quarter run. In all, five different Warriors scored in double digits, including Juan Toscano-Anderson (11 points) and Damion Lee (11 points) off the bench.
But the night belonged to Curry, who reached the 50 for the first time since his 53-point performance against the Denver Nuggets on April 12.
The Warriors are 9-1 and it feels like the renaissance is on.
“Chase is starting to pick up a spirit of its own," Curry said. "It’s an unfair comparison to Oracle, honestly. We’re trying to put ourselves in position where we’re winning games, protecting home court where we can build a new identity of what this building means in terms of homecourt advantage. We had three championships in that building and we want to try to get one in here. It’s a work in progress. It does make a huge difference having a sold-out arena with that buzz and energy.”
