This weekend, Golden State’s Stephen Curry torched the Oklahoma City Thunder for 46 points, including a record-tying 12 three-pointers. Curry’s onslaught, in addition to the absolute tear he has been on this year, proves one thing: he is the best basketball player on the planet.
In what might have been considered basketball blasphemy just over two years ago, fans everywhere are now labeling Curry as the best player in the world. Yes, better than Lebron James, better than Kevin Durant and better than Anthony Davis. The once-doubted guard out of Davidson College now holds the top three spots in the NBA’s record book for most threes in a season. He claims the top spot with 288 threes. And that is from this season.
There are 24 games left.
Some might try to refute the notion that Curry could really be the best by saying “he is only a shooter.” Curry is averaging 6.6 assist, 5.3 rebounds and 2.11 steals this season on top of his monstrous 30.7 points per game, which is the highest in the league. He is much more than “just a shooter.”
He leads the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating (PER), which is a measurement of a player’s overall positive or negative affect on his team. An outstanding PER would be 20.0.
Curry’s is 32.95.
So, if after all these statistics are presented and you still don’t believe that Curry is the best there is, let’s take a look at Twitter. After Curry’s dazzling performance on Saturday and, specifically, his game-winning 32-footer, several of the league’s other most notable players sent out tweets to express their states of awe.
“(Curry) needs to stop it man!! He’s ridiculous man! Never before seen someone like him in the history of ball!” James said.
“Curry is unreal,” perennial All-Star Dwayne Wade said.
“He can’t be human,” Toronto Raptors star DeMar DeRozan said.
The NBA’s top players could not believe what they were watching, and that was an undersized point guard executing one of the most incredible shooting performances the world of basketball has ever seen.
Now, as Curry and the Warriors approach the home stretch of the NBA season, an unimaginable amount of attention will be directed at him.
Talk has recently been initiated about Curry becoming the first player to ever be unanimously voted as MVP. Back-to-back MVP’s, as well as consecutive NBA Championships would be the perfect conclusion to this video game-like season for Curry.
He has brought the art of shooting back into the spotlight of basketball. He is doing things with a basketball that we never thought were possible. He is embarrassing defenders each time he touches the ball. And every night he takes the court, the world appears to stop for a moment in hopes of witnessing yet another record-setting performance.
The stats show it, the media shows it and his game shows it. Steph Curry is the best basketball player in the world.
