Remembering Stephen Curry’s 30 greatest moments on his 30th birthday

24-22. Alien Curry takes three trips to Area 51

On Feb. 4, 2015, the Warriors were getting embarrassed at home on national TV by the Dallas Mavericks. They were down 26-7, and Curry had yet to score through the game’s first seven minutes.

By time the Warriors won 128-114, Curry had 51, including a 26-point third quarter featuring a litany of filthy step-backs and floaters. It was likely the signature game of Curry’s first MVP campaign.

The following year, Curry had enough signature games for five MVP seasons. He matched his 2014-15 season high of 51 twice—though neither was his highest scoring, nor his greatest game, of 2015-16.

Still, both games were great. Exactly 364 days after he dropped 51 on the Mavs, Curry went into Washington and did the same, though in different fashion. His first seven minutes were not exactly scoreless this time — Curry was 5-for-5 from 3 in the game’s first 6:33. He ended the quarter with 25 points on 7-for-8 shooting from deep, and ended with 51 in another national TV show.

Twenty days after that, Curry dropped 51 again, this time on the Orlando Magic. It was the most balanced, workman-like of his 51-point games, as Curry opened with 15 in the first and followed it up with a modest 24 in the third. He became the first player in NBA history to score 50 with one or fewer free throw attempts, and made what is still a career-high 20 shots from the field.

21. So maybe the 2014-15 Warriors weren’t lucky

Most teams spend their championship summers getting fat and full, basking in endless adoration. Such was not the case for the Warriors in 2015, as the legitimacy of their championship was constantly called into question. The team that had just won 67 games and a title in convincing fashion entered the following season not as title favorites, but third in Las Vegas’ championship odds.

A single quarter into 2015-16, the fluke narrative was gone. Curry scored 24 points against the Pelicans in the season’s opening period, ending the night with 40. Two games later, Curry went into New Orleans and dropped 53 points and nine assists. One of those dimes was perhaps the best of Curry’s career — a behind-the-head no-looker with three defenders on him, finding Harrison Barnes for a dunk.

The Warriors would not lose for 21 more games, and Curry’s 2014-15 MVP went from being seen as a peak to merely a jumping-off point.