On this day in 2007, Jason Richardson was a flamethrower from behind the arc.
With future Warriors head coach Steve Kerr commentating, future Warriors single-game 3-point record-setters Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson still a few years away from behind drafted and Dorell Wright a few years away from being a Warrior (he broke Richardson’s record before them, with 9 threes back in 2010), Richardson had 36 points and a then franchise-record 8 3-pointers, combining with Stephen Jackson, Baron Davis and Monta Ellis for 102 points.
It was a game the Warriors nearly threw away to the future first-seed Suns. Richardson shot out of the gate with 19 points in the first quarter, while Jackson had 10 and both Davis and Ellis had 8 apiece. All four were the only contributors in a 45-point first quarter shellacking of the Suns. They proceeded to outscore the Suns by 2 and 9 points, respectively, in each of the following two quarters, before the wheels came screaming off in the fourth.
That near disaster took the form of a 33-15 Suns fourth quarter, in which a one-time 25-point lead was cut to five points by game’s end, in a 124-119 Warriors win.
Most important of all, though, was the poster by Andris Biedrins on both Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire. Iconic players making iconic plays.
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