Stephen Curry gets real as he passes Michael Jordan despite losing to Blazers

Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry turned heads again Sunday night with a historic performance in a 136-131 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. The 37-year-old guard scored 48 points, including 12 3-pointers on 19 attempts, while shooting 16-of-26 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line. It was Curry’s fifth career game with at least 12 3-pointers and his 45th 40-point game out of 30. surpassing Michael Jordan’s 44 games in the same category.

“Just cool recognition and longevity,” Curry said when asked to share his feelings about the achievement (h/t Sam Gordon of the San Francisco Chronicle). “Obviously, I’d like to celebrate it with a win, but any time you do anything with certain names in this league, historically, it definitely means something.”

Golden State had Steph Curry at his absolute best, but still couldn’t secure the victory. Portland’s offense spread the scoring, Jerami Grant and Shaddon Sharp each dropped 35 points and Danny Awdia added 26, outscoring the Warriors’ defense. The Trail Blazers shot 51 percent from the floor and made 26 of 29 free throws. It’s worth noting that Curry was the only Warrior to score over 20 points in a game.

Curry has been especially prolific since returning from a five-game layoff with a quadriceps injury. In Friday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, he scored 39 points on 50 percent shooting, including 6 of 15 from three, with five rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes.

In 18 games this season, 2k MVO is averaging 29.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.6 blocks per game while shooting 48.4 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from three and 90.7 percent from the free throw line. He has already surpassed his previous frequency of 40-point games, averaging a 40-point performance every 4.5 games this season.

Sunday’s match also showed how deadly Curry can be in the closing stages. He scored 33 points in the second half, with 21 coming in the fourth quarter alone, the 44th time in his career that he scored 20 or more points in a quarter. Overall, Curry is now ninth all-time with 75 career 40-point games

Golden State, however, remains inconsistent as a team. The Warriors are now 13-14, and even with Curry’s heroics, are just 3-5 when he scores at least 34 points. They now have three days to rest and recharge before taking on the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.