One of the best NBA storylines approaching the end of this season is the scoring race between Steph Curry and Bradley Beal. The Warriors and Wizards stars are currently trying to push their respective teams into good seeding for the upcoming play-in tournaments, but the scoring race has become a fun subplot amid those playoff aspirations.
Beal and Curry have both been on a tear the last month and a half, with each star averaging more than 30 points a night since the NBA trade deadline. Curry in particular has been a monster with a 37 point average behind a flurry of elite shooting, but Beal’s heroics have helped the Wizards win 15 of their last 19 games and pushed them all the way into play-in tournament range. When two players are having performances like this on a nightly basis, it’s hard to not notice each other, especially when they’re competing for the title of the best scorer in the league this year.
On Saturday, Beal had a 50 point barrage in an overtime victory over the Pacers. With the Warriors not tipping off until late into the evening, it gave Curry the chance to hear what Beal had done. In response, Curry scored a tidy 49 points in only 29 minutes, and after the game, he didn’t exactly deny that Beal’s performance in Indianapolis gave him added motivation.
Did Steph know Bradley Beal had 50 points tonight?
“Of course I did.”
Did he think about the scoring title?
“That’s the second thought.”
pic.twitter.com/gICfIgTS80
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) May 9, 2021
As it stands right now, Curry’s 31.9 points per game gives him a slight lead over Beal’s 31.4. One advantage that Curry is going to have down the stretch is that he does a lot of his scoring damage from behind the arc in comparison to Beal. So Curry is statistically going to have a better chance at outscoring Beal on a night-to-night basis, although with Beal being such a heavy-volume player and Russell Westbrook’s brilliance in being able to set him up for good looks, he will have a shot to pass Curry before the end of the season.
While we’re going to be paying attention to their individual playoff races, we would be remiss to not keep an eye on the scoring battle taking place as well, because it’s going to go down to the wire between two of the most exciting players in the league.