National Basketball Association

Stephen Curry's 46-point season finale clinches his 2nd scoring title

Updated May. 16, 2021 9:48 p.m. ET

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Stephen Curry has accomplished a lot over the course of his wondrous basketball career, but his latest achievement has to rank pretty high on the list – at least among his individual achievements.

Curry scored 46 points on Sunday to clinch the NBA’s scoring title on the final day of the regular season. Curry finished with an average of 32.0 points per game – a career-high – edging out Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards (31.3 PPG).

Curry scored 33 of his points in the second half, in the process leading the Golden State Warriors to a 113-101 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies and clinching the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

It’s just the second time Curry has won the scoring title in his 12-year career, the other coming when he led the NBA with 30.1 PPG as a 28-year-old in 2016.

Curry is only the second player 33 or older to lead the NBA in scoring. The other was Michael Jordan, who won the last of his 10 titles as a 35-year-old in 1998.

Perhaps most impressive of all? Curry did it with a team that is a shadow of the dominant Warriors squads that reached the NBA Finals five straight times from 2015-19, winning championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

He did it without fellow "Splash Brother" Klay Thompson, who hasn’t played since the 2019 NBA Finals as he dealt first with a torn knee ligament, then an injured Achilles tendon. And he also did it without Kevin Durant, who moved on to the Brooklyn Nets in July 2019.

Instead, Curry did it with wily veteran Draymond Green and a collection of young players like Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole, with the latter scoring 15 points off the bench Sunday.

"He's never been better, I can say that," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Sunday's game. "He's been great for a long time, though, so it's hard to say he's at his best now because he's been like this for years. I think what's different this year is just the supporting cast is different. We've got a much younger team; he's been asked to do a lot more with this group and he's gone above and beyond what we've asked of him.

"Just an incredible season and I'll just leave it at that: He's never been better than he is right now."

Despite dealing with injuries and youth, the Warriors hit a higher gear down the stretch of the season, winning their last six games and eight of their last nine to vault into the No. 8 spot in the playoffs.

The team’s surge coincided with a burst in Curry’s game as well, as the 6-foot-3 guard averaged 37.3 points in April and 36.8 in May.

But as much as the Warriors depend on Curry to score, he has done so with incredible efficiency, shooting 56.9% from two-point range, 42.1% from 3 and 91.6% from the free-throw line.

The numbers are mind-blowing, but so is the show Curry has put on every night this season. 

Here are some reactions to Curry’s scoring title.

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