With Stephen Curry out due to a knee sprain, it seemed fitting that the Golden State Warriors' opponent on Thursday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder, paid homage to the greatest shooter of all time by simply refusing to miss from three. As a team, the Thunder made 19 of their 32 three-point attempts on the night en route to a blowout win over the Dubs, 128-109.
In particular, Isaiah Joe was breathing fire from beyond the arc. The 24-year old sharpshooter, whom the Thunder picked up off waivers last year, was simply unconscious from three, making all seven of his attempts from deep, finishing with 23 points and five rebounds in 25 minutes, with OKC outscoring the Warriors by 21 points when he was on the floor.
In the process of doing so, Joe etched his name on the Thunder history books by being the first player in franchise history to shoot 100 percent from three on seven or more attempts. Moreover, according to Thunder PR, via Clemente Almanza of Thunder Wire, Joe tied a Thunder record with 7 consecutive made threes without a miss.
On a personal level, Isaiah Joe also had the best shooting night of his career, tallying the most triples he's had for a single game in his brief NBA career to this point.
And it wasn't like Joe was getting easy shots; after all, he entered the night as a 38.8 percent shooter from deep for his career (40.9 percent since moving to OKC). Thus, he was a marked man for the Warriors. However, the sheer amount of attention Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company drew opened up a lot of shots for Joe.
One of the plays the Thunder loved to run was a brush screen for Gilgeous-Alexander from Joe. Due to how dangerous SGA is, the Thunder got Joe plenty of open shots by simply instructing him to slip quickly, confusing the Warriors defense over and over again.
It's hard to believe that in a building with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in it, it wasn't one of the Splash Brothers who was the best shooter on the night. That title belonged to Isaiah Joe, who was simply on automatic on Thursday night.