Have individual accomplishments in the NBA ever been overshadowed if they weren’t accompanied by a team win? As it turns out, history books are filled with such instances. Devin Booker’s back-to-back 40+ points in the 2021 NBA Finals did not matter with the Suns’s elimination. The trio of Jahlil Okafor, Robert Covington and Dario Saric making a combined contribution of 67 points and 35 rebounds in 2017 was forgotten after the Philadelphia 76ers lost. Stephen Curry had every reason to celebrate after delivering one of his first record-breaking performances during the early stages of his career. However, a team loss prevented him from being as excited as he should have been.

During a segment of Dell Curry’s Heat Check podcast, the four-time NBA champion discussed what went down after he made a jaw-dropping 54 points at Madison Square Garden in 2013. For someone averaging only 17.5 points in his previous three seasons, reaching such a high point would have been more than an excuse for celebration. Unfortunately, it didn’t help that Curry’s efforts were not enough to put his team on top, and the Warriors lost by a narrow margin of 109-105. Even the presence of the NBA star’s ex-teammate from Davidson, Steve Rossiter, was not enough to distract him from contemplating a ‘What If’ situation.

“We had already planned, we were going to go get some food after the game. But the tone kind of changed a little bit with the 54, but we had lost too. I was hyped, you know, but also kind of muted, because we had lost” Curry revealed. “And the competitor in you is…. I’m thinking about like the last minute and a half ‘Could I have done something different’, or Raymond Felton got a piece of the shot in the corner, I’m thinking about that possession. And also like, I’ve never experience 54 before too, so that, you’ve got a lot of emotions going on.”

The performance against the New York Knicks set the foundation for Curry’s future greatness. By easily clearing through defensive players like Raymond Felton, Pablo Prigioni and Iman Shumpert, the young player showed that he could achieve the same level of prowess possessed by his father Dell during his NBA days. However, his individual feat apparently did not matter that much if it came at the cost of his team losing.

“After I went to dinner, I was just at the room by myself chilling, and the TV was on. You know how you watch the cycle of SportsCenter over and over?” asked the Warriors star to his father. When Dell replied back with a “Oh yeah,” Steph added “I went through three cycles,” which got a laugh out from Dell.

Achieving the 54 points by shooting 18-28 from the field, 11-13 from the three-point range, and accompanying it with 7-7 free throws is no ordinary feet. Not only was Curry’s score an all-time high for him, it also allowed him to set the Warriors record for most three-pointers, and become the first player in league history to make that many points with 10+ three-pointers. ESPN journalist Doris Burke even went out of his way to highlight that the narrative around Dell Curry’s son was changing by admitting “For a guy who a lot of people questioned, at 6-3 and 185 pounds, could he be effective in the league? He has put those concerns to rest.” While these praises were airing, however, Curry was in a restaurant, hoping that what occurred with the Warriors should be avoided for as long to come.

A shift certainly took place after the game at Madison Square Garden. Under Curry’s leadership, and the guidance of Steve Kerr who joined in 2014, the Golden State Warriors would reach the playoffs on 9 out of 13 occasions, making the NBA Finals in 6 of them, and securing the championship on 4 instances. While Curry would top his 54-point performance in three other future games, he cannot choose to stay quiet about the impact that the matchup had on him personally.

How does Stephen Curry remember the historic Madison Square Garden game after 11 years?

Stephen Curry was going through a series of emotions on that historic day in February 2013. As a result, he neither enjoyed nor felt disappointed. However, in the same episode of Heat Check, he admitted that achieving the feat in the place dubbed the ‘Mecca of Basketball’ was certainly not what he had in mind.

“You never know when it’s going to click. You never know when you’re going to have a breakthrough like that. And I guess that night was definitely a defining moment in raising the ceiling of my game, just the confidence that went behind it,” said Steph. “It was more about proving to myself that I was the type of player that I thought I was, that I was working to be, that I knew I could be. If I had that night in Dallas or Milwaukee or somewhere like that it still would feel the same but the fact that it was in the Garden was (special).”

Despite being over a decade now, Curry continues to analyze what went wrong. The conclusion he has now drawn was that Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith made a series of shots during the final moments that caused the Knicks to maintain their narrow lead. What has changed since February 2013, however, is that Curry now considers the 54-point game as “the coming-out party” for him, and not solely as ‘the game that the Warriors lost.’ After all, “You can score 54 in a lot of different places and people will talk about it but when you do it in the Garden, you do it that loud, it just hits a little different.”

Do you believe that the MSG game set a foundation for Stephen Curry’s future path to greatness? Let us know in the comments down below.

Before you go, remember to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.