Warriors’ Steph Curry passes LeBron James with another 40-point night

Steph Curry is playing fewer minutes. Opponents probably wish he were doing a little less with them.

The Warriors star scored 41 points in Saturday’s overtime win over the Magic, recording his 16th game of at least 40 points since turning 35. That moved him past LeBron James for the NBA record, as Joey Akeley of Warriors On SI detailed.

Curry, 38, shot 13-of-19 from the field and 5-of-10 on 3-pointers, adding six rebounds and six assists.

He reached the milestone with a running scoop shot that put the Warriors ahead by four with 54 seconds left in overtime. So this was useful history, too.

Through eight games, Curry is averaging 31.25 points in 29.63 minutes. Steve Kerr is managing his workload, and Curry is supplying more than a point per minute anyway.

After a knee issue cost him 27 consecutive games last season, that’s an encouraging response to any questions about how much scoring he has left.

The Warriors needed nearly all of it Saturday.

They shot 54 percent while holding the Magic to 38 percent, but a 57-42 rebounding deficit helped keep Orlando around. That’s a lot of extra work to create for yourself on a night when the shots are falling.

Curry also collected his 5,000th career rebound, per Akeley. The Warriors could have used a few more from everybody else.

Fortunately for them, his scoring remains considerably ahead of schedule.