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The Stephen Curry Show starts hours before tip

BOSTON -- Back when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were chasing Roger Maris' single-season home run record in 1998, fans flocked to the stadium hours early to watch them crush balls out of the yard during batting practice.

With Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors off to the best start in NBA history, his warm-ups have become must-watch entertainment for early-arriving fans in Sosa-McGwire fashion.

I traveled to Boston Friday to track Curry's warm-up session along with at least 500 fans about an hour and a half before tip, a common occurrence these days. Here's what his shot chart looked like before the Warriors-Celtics game:

Curry made 110 of his 180 field goals, taking nearly 200 shots in all. He shot 61.1 percent from the field, hit 30 of 60 3-pointers and knocked down "just" 12 of 17 free throws.

The important disclaimer when looking at this shot chart is that he didn't shoot every shot like he would in a game as some shots were tricks he's working on. He went 4-for-14 on right-handed layups, but those misses were largely wild, high-arching shots put up so high not even Hassan Whiteside would have a chance to block it. It's no wonder he often hits similar shots in games against defenders like Whiteside.

The right-handed Curry also took many of his shots at the top of the left elbow with his left hand, making an impressive 6 of 8 shots from the area.

After taking a series of shots from various points around the lane, Curry arrived in the right corner and rarely hit the rim. He made 16 shots in a row from this spot, four from long distance.

Curry proceeded to make his way around the arc, alternating between long twos and 3-pointers while also taking some rhythm jumpers off passes from a coach.

Perhaps the fan highlight of the shooting display came when Curry lined up near half court and promptly nailed his first three shots from that distance without breaking form. Overall, Curry was 5-of-9 from near half court. Watch out if he is in the Shooting Stars competition on All-Star Saturday Night!