Why Stephen Curry's 51-point game felt even larger

OAKLAND – One of the coolest things about this Golden State – One of the Big Reasons I consider the Warriors to be roundball revolutionaries – that they changed the way fans cheer during games.

It used to be the pinnacle of basketball excitement – the thing that brought basketball fans out of their seats and onto their feet, the thing that was expected in the arena – was a slam dunk.

But when Stephen Curry and Warriors came out of age in the 2014-15 season, they did not just hack the NBA through simple math – 3 is greater than 2 – they also turned the 3-point shot into the most exciting event in the sport.

These days, all competing in the NBA, the winner of the 2015 edition of the NBA, the winner of the 2016 edition of the competition 3-point shots galore.

Meanwhile, the Warriors, with Kevin Durant in the fold, have taken their game to another level – they're a ruthlessly efficient death machine. Sometimes, when the Golden State is full, you can understand why so many fans allege the Warriors ruined the league.

But on Wednesday night, as Stephen Curry scored 51 points on 11 made 3-pointers in only three quarters of play, I could not help but feel as if everyone in Oracle Arena had been transported back to 2015.

Curry turned in a truly preposterous performance – brazen to the core – but there was also an innocence and joy to it all.

If any other player in the NBA goes off the road Curry did Wednesday – if someone else were to embrace that kind of hot-hand, one-versus-five, shimmy-on-the-way-back style – he would become a villain .

But because it was Curry – because it was dominating by doing things that any other player would be foolish to even try – you could not help but laugh.

Or, in Curry's case, shrug.

It's probably the baby face that lets him get away with it.

Every day Curry touched the ball Wednesday, it seemed as if he could do the impossible – that palpable excitement you feel when you see a guy jump into the air for an alley-oop? That was the feeling that drifted against Washington.

Curry was pulling up from anywhere he wanted. Thirty feet out, three defenders in his face? No problem.

"Some of the shooting was just mind-boggling – nobody has ever done it's doing it," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "You get a guy taking 40 footers and you're on the sideline and you're on the sidelines going 'yeah, that's a good shot – good job." Explain that. We've never seen this before. "

Curry was unconscious, and everyone watching – including the opponent – was put in a trance.

It's easy to forget, but there were nine other people on the day. There was a game – a real one that counts in the standings – being played. It was completely overshadowed by the Steph Show.

During this week – 30 points, eight rebounds, and seven badists in 31 minutes on the clock.

The Warriors also played terrible defense for most of the game. But it did not matter – the Steph Show was on.

Draymond Green had 12 badists and was stellar in initiating the offending of defensive rebounds. Who cares? Steph Show.

There will be plenty of things to do about it, but it's still going to be a bit of a hit with the rest of the NBA about how it's still going in the conversation about the game's best.

There will be lots of talk about him winning another MVP award 77 games from now – it would be his third such award – and what would it mean for his standing in NBA history.

Some Curry – Sensing During the Departure of the Bay at the end of the season – is reestablishing its ownership of the Warriors after two years of sacrificing to No. 35.

And those are all viable narratives.

But we can talk about that stuff another day.

That's because Wednesday's game might have been Curry's all-time best performance at Oracle Arena. And seeing this is the last season the Warriors will play in the venerable old barn – one that thanks to its low, makes it a terrible venue for concerts, but in conjunction with a rowdy, knowledgeable fanbase, makes it an unparalleled one for basketball – that hits a bittersweet note.

When conditions are perfect, the Oracle Arena crowd is 20,000-piece orchestra and Curry is the eccentric conductor.

There's really nothing in sports quite like the energy in that building during an extended Curry Flurry, and I'm not sure how much more we're going to come back to a performance like that 51-point outburst.

Maybe its nostalgia – that imminent end to something special – that took my mind back to 2015 Wednesday night. I felt like I was watching his 51-point performance against the Dallas Mavericks in 2015 – the game that it became clear that everything was going to be changed and it was going to win MVP.

Or perhaps it was the fact that it had been a while since I've seen it.

Either way, despite the fact that Curry is one of the most famous people on earth – a player who is already an all-time great in his profession – Wednesday night's performance felt like a re-introduction.

That guy playing against the Wizards? That was the Stephen Curry that turned the Warriors into a dynasty.

Remember him?

He's back.

And despite the fact that there are many following in his footsteps, there's no one today – and no one in the history of the NBA – that can not do it.