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The Golden State Warriors this season fell one win short of a first-round playoff series.
While that may seem ostensibly to be an underachievement for a team that played in five straight NBA Finals, the feat was regarded around the league as a valiant effort from an injury-plagued team, which was made on the back of a historic offensive campaign from Steph Curry.
There are a host of numbers that highlight Curry’s greatness over the past season, but one of the more obscure marks he set in 2021 displays, perhaps better than any other, the dominance the point guard achieved game-in and game-out.
Curry Set Highest Points-Per-Quarter Mark in Three Decades
GettySteph Curry takes a shot in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
During what turned out to be the Warriors’ final game of the year, an eventual 117-112 overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in the postseason play-in tournament, the broadcast team noted one of Curry’s more obscure accomplishments in 2021.
ESPN’s Doris Burke broke in after the second half with the statistic. For the season, the Warrior point guard averaged 11.4 points per quarter in the third stanza.
That is the highest single-quarter scoring average that any NBA player has posted in any quarter for the last 30 years.
Curry Set Personal, Team and League Records on Way to Scoring Title
GettyGolden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry reacts after passing Wilt Chamberlain on the team’s all-time scoring list during an April game against the Denver Nuggets.
The list of Curry’s offensive accomplishments continued to grow as the year went on.
The point guard became the Warriors’ all-time leading scorer in April, when he passed the legendary Wilt Chamberlain in a game against the Denver Nuggets.
Curry led the league in scoring at 32 points per game (ppg), edging out the Washington Wizards’ Bradley Beal for the honor. Damian Lillard, of the Portland Trailblazers, finished in third.
It was Curry’s second NBA scoring title and his highest ppg total throughout his 12-year career. He was also only the second player in history to win the award at the age of 33 or older (Michael Jordan).
On his way to that mark, Curry set a number of records involving scoring and 3-point shooting. During 15 games in April, Curry drained a record 96 three-pointers, which is 14 more than any other player has hit in a single month in NBA history (James Harden).
Also in April, the Golden State point guard became the first NBA player to ever average 35 ppg while achieving shooting splits of 50% from the field, 40% from downtown, and 90% from the free-throw line over the course of an entire month, per a report from the Mercury News.
Curry made 337 shots from behind the arc in the COVID-abbreviated season, during which only 72 games were played by each team. Curry appeared in 63 of those contests to hit the mark, which is fourth-highest single season total ever, per Basketball Reference.
Extrapolated out over the course of a full regular season, Curry would have posted the second-highest single season total of made 3-pointers with 390, just 12 shy of his own record. He currently holds four of the top five single season 3-point efforts (James Harden, second-highest total ever with 378 makes).
Curry averaged 12.7 attempts from deep this season, along with 5.3 made 3-pointers per game. Both are personal and NBA records.