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Sixers marvel at Stephen Curry

Steph Curry amazed everyone on Saturday night with his 46 points and 12 three pointers, including the Sixers.

ORLANDO - Saturday's game between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder was all the talk before, during and after the 76ers' shootaround Sunday morning as they prepared to face the Orlando Magic.

Steph Curry hit a 35-footer just before the buzzer to give Golden State a 121-118 overtime win and improve its record to an astounding 53-5. It was Curry's 12th three-pointer on a night in which he scored 46 points and left the basketball world and sports fans shaking their heads in disbelief.

"That was high-level basketball," said Sixers guard T.J. McConnell. "It's almost like he's not human, what he's doing. It's incredible to watch. There's not really much else to say. He's unbelievable.

"I don't think the game has ever seen a player that steps over halfcourt and he's in shooting range. It's absolutely insane."

People watch games differently. A ref will see it one way, a player another, a coach his way. Sixers coach Brett Brown can't help but try to figure out offensive schemes or defensive alignments that he may be able to use for his team. Watching Curry do what he did Saturday, especially after badly twisting his ankle earlier in the game, brought out the fan in Brown.

"Yup," was the only response Brown could muster when asked if Curry was out of this world. "I watched every second of that game and on that last shot, you could just feel it," Brown said. "As he's coming up the floor, I thought it was smart of Steve (Kerr) not to call timeout. You could just feel what was going to happen the dribble before halfcourt.

"You look at the variety of how he makes threes, and you have some of those veteran great players (such as Oscar Robertson) challenging the modern-day defenders, but it's really hard. For somebody to go 12-for-16 (on threes) in the NBA, and Oklahoma City is pretty good, on the road, is just spectacular.

"With Steph, you start talking about picking him up right after halfcourt and then he does what he does with his handle and he can still create his shot because he has such an elusive handle and amazing balance. Then you crowd him too much and he's at the rim. What stood out to me as much as his amazing individual effort was they executed stuff at the end with back-door stuff. Steph is amazing and he's got an amazing surrounding cast. For sure, you become a fan watching him, but I'm always looking at how a team that can play into May and June, how they execute."

Holmes situation

At this time of year, with six weeks and 23 games remaining, you may see some subtle changes in the way Brett Brown uses some of his players.

We know he's committed to having Jahlil Okafor play the power forward spot and Jerami Grant probably will get shuffled more between the small forward and power forward positions.

If there is someone who may need a longer look as the season winds down, it would appear to be rookie forward Richaun Holmes, but Brown just isn't sure if that can happen.

"We look at him all over the place, in shootarounds, at practice, in games," Brown said. "You say, 'Let's play Nerlens (Noel) and Jahlil (Okafor) a lot and together, and then you say, 'Jerami (Grant) is more of a four than a three.' And then it ends up so much of a small game that (Robert) Covington ends up as a four, there's just no minutes. I try to remind myself and not let him rot and throw him in games from time to time. He's always on our mind of how we can get him on the court and see more of him, but not to the detriment of some of the other goals that I've said."

The 6-10, 245-pounder has played in each of the six games since the All-Star break, but hasn't really stood out in his limited minutes. Perhaps more playing time will come to him as the season gets closer to its merciful end.

Thompson sits

The Sixers were without the services of swingman Hollis Thompson (flu) against Orland.

@BobCooney76

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