On Monday night, Israel’s first-ever athlete to play in the NBA, Omri Casspi, scored a career-high 36 points for the Sacramento Kings, though it wasn’t enough to secure a win agains tall-star and 2015 MVP Steph Curry and the reigning NBA champions Golden State Warriors in Oakland.
The Warriors are having one of the most flawless seasons in basketball history. Currently with 29 wins, and one loss, they’re on a 33-game winning streak at home (dating back to last season), and finished off the 2015 calendar with only a single home loss, and 42 wins.
Nevertheless, Monday’s game proved to be action-packed, thanks to Casspi’s terrific shooting, and his decision to go one-for-one against Curry (considered one of the greatest shooters in NBA history). The 27-year-old Casspi poured in a career-high 36 points with nine three pointers, tying a Sacramento Kings record.
It was the final three minutes and 15 seconds of the second quarter that sports magazines like Deadspin have been gawking about, though. After going scoreless for the first 20:44 of the game, Curry hit five three-pointers, and a layup. Casspi, however, retaliated with four three-pointers in the same stretch:
Thanks to his spot-on shooting, Casspi, who signed a two-year contract worth US$6 million with the Kings last July, is now in the running for the best three-point shooter in the NBA.
As SB Nation points out, Casspi now ranks “among the very best three-point shooters in the league,” leading the NBA in three-point shooting (48.7 per cent) among players who attempt at least three per game and have played in at least ten games this season.
So far, Casspi has started in 13 games for the Kings this season.
While the Israeli shooter may have been taking his time developing his game, it seems the patience of Kings coach George Karl has finally been paying off. If Casspi keeps this up, he can definitely anticipate a salary increase once his contract’s up in 2017.
