34. Stephen Curry with 48 points and 11 triples in close win over Mavericks
Back when the Dallas Mavericks were still a competitive ball club and a respectable 16-4 at home, the Golden State Warriors came into American Airlines Center and eked out a five-point win thanks to Stephen Curry’s sustained brilliance.
In addition to his 48 points, six rebounds and five assists, Curry was his usual fire-starter self from deep, supplying 11 triples to tie a season high and bury the Mavs under an avalanche of 3s throughout the night.
Curry accounted for 11 of the team’s 19 made 3s in the game, with the most important one breaking a 114-114 tie with 42 seconds left. Dallas played a great game, and Luka Doncic posted a 26-6-5 stat line, but sometimes victory and defeat simply comes down to whether your team has Steph Curry or not.
33. Jusuf Nurkic joins 5×5 club
Jusuf Nurkic took the “new year, new me” saying to heart, wasting no time at the onset of 2019 with his finest performance of the season. On New Year’s Day against the Kings, the Bosnian Beast led the Portland Trail Blazers to a narrow overtime victory over the Kings by joining the “5×5” club.
Finishing with 24 points, 23 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and five steals, Nurkic was terrific in every facet of the game. Aside from recording a 20-20 double-double, he got his 24 points on only 10 shots, getting to the line a whopping 16 times and making 14 of them.
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1080468798958944256
Damian Lillard’s late-game heroics were the catalyst in OT, but Nurk was easily their most well-rounded, efficient and essential player after they nearly blew a 14-point halftime lead.