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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

As he makes ridiculous shots, Stephen Curry’s calm demeanor pierces through hundreds of NBA players. Whether they are from the current crop or have retired, many of them have gotten a gigantic piece of Curry’s Golden Touch. An iconic moment that defines this Magic was his iconic 54-point outburst in MSG during the 2013 season. This is when LeBron was dominating the scene in Miami, along with Wade and Bosh.

This outburst turned a lot of heads because of the type of novel shots that the Guard made from long-range. A former Knicks player opens up about the tensions caused by this performance.

Did Raymond Felton’s pride aid Stephen Curry to drop 50+?

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MSG has soaked in many incredible performances. MJ’s 55-point game, Kobe’s 61-point, and LeBron’s 52-point game all lit the arena on fire. But Curry’s memorable performance was unprecedented. He was yet to become an All-Star and was not counted among the best PGs in 2013.

Iman Shumpert, who won a championship with LeBron James and the Cavs in 2016, was a part of the Knicks that got torched for 54 points by the Warriors phenom.

Sitting down with former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes on SHOWTIME Basketball show All The Smoke, Shumpert talked about that night in some detail.

He wishes he had primarily guarded Curry instead of the Knicks’ Floor General Raymond Felton. However, the Guard didn’t relent to the demand of Shump and continued to get torched by Curry. Stephen Jackson then reveals how former Magic Undersized Guard Jameer Nelson had dropped 20 in the first quarter in the first three games against Felton. 

Urging to pick Curry full-court, Shumpert told Felton “G, he is doing Davidson on us. You can’t let him do that.”.

Here he refers to his 2008 Davidson run where, as a low-ranked team, they defeated top-seeded squads like Georgetown.

Then he goes into how Steph was changing the game at the time. He was doing things no one has ever seen.

Shumpert wished he had guarded Steph

The unrelenting Felton wouldn’t listen to the former Knicks Defender, which created friction. Shump then expresses his disbelief watching Curry going on.

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He says, “He doin’ the sh** that we were like “you can’t do that in the league”. He start doing it. Yeah, you are going too fast shooting that jumper. You ain’t holding that up.” He also regrets not telling Felton, “You are guarding whoever the f*** else. But I am now guarding Steph 94-feet.”

But the then-young player was coming off an injury and the coaching staff pointed out that he can’t keep up with the Warriors Guard. 

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Do you think this game ignited the current fire in Steph’s veins? Do share in the comments below.

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