NEW YORK (AP) — Perhaps only Stephen Curry could describe his basket as the first half was ending Thursday as a “rhythm shot.”
Who else but the most accomplished outside shooter in history could be in rhythm when he’s nearly 40 feet away and not even facing the basket?
Curry threw in the turnaround heave from 38 feet with 0.3 seconds left in the second quarter en route to scoring 40 points in Golden State’s 121-119 victory over Brooklyn, then just started running directly to the locker room so he could try to hide his surprise that it went in.
Those who have watched him for all these years weren’t surprised at all.
“Most people can make that shot luckily,” Draymond Green said. “We all knew that shot was going in. That’s a different thing.”
Curry already made one from just beyond halfcourt to end a first half on this road trip, when he scored 56 points on Feb. 27 in Orlando in the opener of it. This one was closer, but seemingly more difficult.
He was standing with his feet inside the Nets’ logo that extends over both sides of the center court line when he took a pass from Jimmy Butler. Curry simply spun and fired a turnaround jumper, giving Butler about as unlikely an assist as he’ll ever get.
“That one, that’s not in the practice routine, but you have an idea of where you are on the court and as weird as it might sound, it’s kind of a rhythm shot because you don’t have any other thought than just to try to get it off,” Curry said. ‘“But it did surprise me, though. That’s why I just ran to the locker room.”
The fans in the announced crowd of 18,413, the largest to see a Nets game at Barclays Center, were screaming as Curry ran off. They already had been for most of the second quarter, when he made three 3-pointers to get the Warriors almost back to even after Brooklyn ran out to a 27-5 lead.
“When we were out there on the court, I was thinking to myself the NBA is lucky, because this man is going into every arena and putting on a show,” Green said. “Sounds like it’s a home game every time he does it.”
Curry said those types of reactions from opposing crowds are because of the years of winning the Warriors have done. Green chalks is up more to the performances his teammate is giving them.
“I just think that the degree of difficulty is so crazy. You can see a guy score 40 points and be like, ‘He had a good game,’” Green said. “But when you see him score 40 points, it’s totally different because it’s not only him scoring the 40 points, but he’s literally putting on a show. It’s like you want to watch the Cirque du Soleil or something.
“It’s not your typical show you’re going to watch,. It’s a whole bunch of different acrobatics that go into it.”
The Warriors are headed home now to start a seven-game homestand, their longest of the season. It’ll be hard for Curry to be much better than he was while Golden State was going 4-1 on the road.
“Steph just had an incredible trip,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Put on a show in every city.”
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