There’s something about February 27.
Steph Curry, magnificent on any given day, has strung together a trio of iconic performances on the penultimate day of February.
In the latest, Curry put the Warriors on his back with a 56-point gem in which he poured in a dozen 3-pointers. He had the Kia Center in Orlando giving him M-V-P chants even as their hometown star, Paolo Banchero, dropped 41.
Eight years ago, on Feb. 27, 2016, Curry drained the iconic 37-foot game-winner in Oklahoma City to cap one of the greatest regular season games of all time. Instead of settling for overtime, Curry took one dribble across halfcourt and pulled up over Andre Roberson. He got the iconic Mike Breen double-bang treatment on the call with what at the time matched the single-game record with 12 3s.
And on Feb. 27, 2013, the baby-faced Curry electrified Madison Square Garden with 54 points. He played all 48 minutes and shot a sizzling 11-for-13 from behind the arc. His performance was so spectacular, the fact that the Warriors lost the game has been forever lost to history.
The cosmic coincidence had the Warriors’ official social media accounts declaring Feb. 27 as Stephen Curry Day.
A coming-out party, a crowning regular-season game that will forever be on his career mixtape, and a reminder of his greatness.
Against the Magic, Curry willed his team to a comeback victory after they trailed by 17 in the first half. Curry swished in a magical heave at the end of the first half from beyond halfcourt, igniting a 40-14 run that swung the game. He dropped 16 in the second quarter, 22 in the third and connected on three 3-pointers in crunch time.
The season-high performance gave Curry nine 50-point games after turning 30, an all-time record. He has 26 games of at least 10 made 3s in his career; no one else has more than nine.
February was by far Curry’s best month of the season. He averaged 30.7 points in 11 games, shooting 45.9% from 3 and 37.9% from deep. He started the month gunning, knowing his team needed him to carry them as Jonathan Kuminga was sidelined and the Warriors had floundered out of the play-in picture. He used the intermission to win All-Star Game MVP while hosting the signature events. Then he finished it reinvigorated, with new life after the Jimmy Butler trade.
He capped the month with another Feb. 27 showcase. His day. The type of shooting display that never gets old.
One’s an accident, two’s a coincidence, three’s a trend. Even if it’s more correlation than causation.
“I guess I do like this calendar day,” Curry told reporters in Orlando. “I had my first 50-point game in the Garden. So I have to channel Feb. 27 energy all the time. I don’t know what it is, but tonight was different just because we needed all of them to kind of stay afloat and give ourselves a chance and then a lot of guys contributed down the stretch to help us win.”