New Orleans Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas and Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry now share a fascinating statistic unique only to them.
What does towering Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas have in common with prolific Warriors shooter Steph Curry?
It’s certainly not height. Curry is listed at 6-foot-2, while Valanciunas is oversized at 6-foot-11.
It’s not team record, either. The Warriors and the Pelicans sit at opposite ends of the NBA spectrum. The Warriors are the best team in the league this season, leading the Western Conference at 18-2. The Pelicans sit at 14th in the conference with a 6-17 record, one that marginally improved in their 123-104 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Playing the Clippers is what Valanciunas and Curry share, in part, at least. It was the stats that both of these players garnered in victories over the Clippers that gave each of these players impressive individual stat lines.
Steph Curry and Jonas Valanciunas share impressive stat when playing the Clippers
While Valanciunas and Curry have had wildly different experiences team-wise this season, both lead the league as the NBA’s best shooters.
In fact, it is Valanciunas, not Curry, who currently leads the league in 3-point shooting. While he doesn’t shoot them as often, Valanciunas has made 51.7 percent of 2.5 3-point attempts per game.
Curry is shooting 13.1 3-pointers per game, making 42.3 percent. If Valanciunas keeps it up, he will become the first center in NBA history to make over 45 percent of his 3-pointers on two or more attempts per game.
Valanciunas had a record night in Los Angeles, scoring a career-high 39 points as the Pelicans defeated the Clippers for the second time this month. Valanciunas stunned in the first half when he scored 29 of his 39 points, going 7-for-7 for 3 pointers to the delight of himself and his teammates. Valanciunas alone scored a third of the team’s points on the night, with a majority of the rest coming from Brandon Ingram and Herbert Jones.
Despite the struggles New Orleans continues to face, the personal win for Valanciunas could translate to a win for the Pelicans if they can keep up the scoring in the months to come.