Stephen Curry is Finally Slipping

Steph Curry, the greatest shooter in NBA history, didn't perform well at the Great America basketball booth, thereby proving that these games are "rigged."

Steph just confirming these games are rigged 😂 Hit all the money balls tho 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hJBr2TaAkA

— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) June 23, 2022

Any rumor that his performance suffered due to days of hard partying after Monday's parade is just idle speculation.

Alternatively, maybe the pressure of winning a big stuffed animal was too much for him to handle.

Far from the Madding Crowd

Stephen Curry enjoys the moment (Chron photo)

Not too proud to admit that we hop on the bandwagon for local sports teams, we attended the first San Francisco Giants championship parade in 2010.

The enthusiasm for 2022's Golden State Warriors title was equally strong, but, as we noted last week, a lot can happen in ten or twelve years.

The members of our household have various COVID-19 co-morbidities, and optional gatherings such as today's Warriors parade are off-limits.

Weighing benefits and costs--and abiding by the results of that analysis--is a sign of maturity, but a part of me misses the younger person who was more of a risk-taker.

The consolation is that videorecording technology is improving substantially every year, and now I have nine hours of parade footage to watch over the next several days.

Ten Years Later

In March, 2012 we went to a sports memorabilia store in Burlingame to get Stephen Curry's autograph. He was a skinny, relatively short (6'3"), 24-year-old point guard for the lackluster Warriors, who had missed the playoffs for the past five years.

Stephen Curry was an excellent shooter but had never made the All-Star team in three years in the NBA. He was always getting hurt and would undergo ankle surgery later in 2012. It was questionable whether the Warriors were going to extend his contract. Let's go meet him before he leaves the team, said the youngster. And so we did.

With the NBA Finals MVP award (NY Post photo)

Update: Stephen Curry’s all-time legacy is undeniable — and growing

[In the series-clinching Game 6 against Boston] Curry had 34 points, seven boards and seven assists, finishing the series averaging 31.2 points, six boards and five dimes to earn the MVP award. It was the last missing piece from his trophy case after four titles, two scoring titles, an MVP and All-Star MVP.

He joins Durant, James, Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal are the only others to have done so.

A lot can happen in ten years.

A Pleasant, Normal Evening

It's hard to see the live action from on high, but
the gigantic screen keeps everyone informed.

I had never been to the Chase Center, but when the alumni group bought a block of seats for Tuesday's Warriors game and threw in a commemorative T-shirt, it would have required an iron will to pass up the opportunity. (I don't have an iron will.)

Before the start of the game we saw a pale-skinned guy in shorts--clearly not a professional basketball player--running around the floor with the Warriors during their warm-up.

From the nosebleed seats I couldn't tell what was going on, but my seatmate immediately advised that it was Will Ferrell acting the part of Jackie Moon in his 2008 movie, Semi-Pro.

After the Warriors defeated the Clippers, players and coaches credited the actor-comedian for the victory.

"Jackie" and Steph (Chron photo)

When Warriors head coach Steve Kerr received an email from someone claiming to be Will Ferrell, he assumed it was a prank.

But no, the emailer assured, he was the real Will Ferrell. And after hearing that his 2008 movie, “Semi-Pro,” had helped guard Klay Thompson weather a 2½-year hiatus from games, Ferrell wanted to do something special for one of his most famous fans.

So there was Ferrell on Tuesday night at Chase Center, fist-bumping Thompson during warmups in the costume his character, Jackie Moon, wore in “Semi-Pro.” Hours later, Thompson would call Ferrell’s cameo “a huge catalyst” in the Warriors’ 112-97 win over the Clippers.

All in all it was a satisfying evening: the Warriors broke their five-game losing streak, I saw Klay and Steph do their thing, and I explored the $1.4 billion arena. I also ate a lobster roll and got a free T-shirt.

For the first time in two years it felt like things were normal, and normal can be pretty good.

New Year, New Steph

In February the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, which was the last time this humble journal posted anything about the Bay Area teams. Though not even a year has elapsed, the months-long suspension and de-prioritization of all sports has made last year's pre-COVID Super Bowl seem like ancient history.

In the regular NFL season just ended, the 49ers were plagued by injuries to their biggest stars and finished with a record of 6-10, last in the NFC West.

Turning to baseball, the San Francisco Giants ended their schedule out of the playoffs with a 29-31 record. The Giants had only three players (Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, and Brandon Belt) remaining from their 2014 championship team and will need several rebuilding years to contend with the 2020 World Series Champion L.A. Dodgers, who are in the same division.

Damian Lee celebrates Steph's
performance (Chron photo)

The Golden State Warriors, after their June, 2019 defeat by the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals, finished dead last in the 30-team NBA during the COVID-abbreviated 2019-2020 season, when they lost almost the entire team to trade, retirement, and injury. Future Hall-of-Famer Stephen Curry showed only flashes of his 2016-MVP form as teams focused all their defenses on him.

The new basketball season began dismally as All-Star Klay Thompson suffered a season-ending injury for the second year in a row. With only five games completed through Friday the Warriors were already declared by CBS Sports as "quite possibly, the worst team in the league right now."

With mutterings from the rest of the league that Steph Curry is not good enough to carry his team to the playoffs without other star players helping, Steph Curry put up 62 points last night as the Warriors beat the Trailblazers.

After 11 seasons in the NBA, two MVP awards, and three NBA championships, Stephen Curry at the age of 32 scored the most points in his storied career. The feat made him the second-oldest player (behind Kobe Bryant, 37) to score at least 60 points in an NBA game.

For one game Steph Curry reminded us of the joy that fans used to find in sports and gave us hope that a New Year will chase away the clouds of 2020.

Strangely Comforting

All good things...(SI's 5/20/19 cover)

Like other bandwagon riders, I started following the Golden State Warriors again when they made the playoffs in the 2012-2013 season and had one player, David Lee, named to the All-Star team for the first time in 16 years. Under new head coach Steve Kerr the Warriors won the NBA championship in 2015, lost in the 2016 Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and signed superstar Kevin Durant after the 2016 loss.

Entering the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons, they were prohibitive favorites to win the title and did. Kevin Durant's last committed season was 2018-2019, and, while the Warriors were again the championship favorite, most of the discussion around the NBA water cooler for the past year was about Kevin Durant and other free agents' next teams, changing the balance of power in the league and likely ending the Warriors era.

In Game 6 of the Finals last night, the Toronto Raptors dethroned the Warriors, who, beset by season-ending injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, refused to make excuses and praised the winners.

Though the final result fell short of pre-season expectations, the Warriors' performance during the playoffs displayed character and drive under great adversity, drive that few suspected was there after five years of continued winning.

Just as the loss in 2016 led to the signing of Kevin Durant and the disruption of the NBA, so will the Raptors' victory, the Warriors' loss, and the injuries to K.D. and Klay cause changes that no one can foresee. No one knows anything, and we find that strangely comforting.

Warriors: The Last Performance?

When I see the Golden State Warriors, I think of the Beatles: individual talents who came together to produce magic that will be talked about 50 years after it's gone.

When the Warriors are at their finest, such as the 51-point first quarter against the Nuggets last month, or when they made 24 of 25 shots in the the middle of the Spurs game last week, Warriors basketball is beautiful. All five men are constantly in motion, the ball flits around the court until it finds the open man, and the shot is buried, either from 3-point distance or from above the rim.



But as with the Beatles in the late Sixties, the joy of playing together is dissipating. Superstar forward Kevin Durant didn't sign a long-term contract at the beginning of the season, which will prompt half the teams in the NBA to bid for his services in July. Sports reporters are hectoring him weekly about where he will go, creating cracks in the team's camaraderie. Other key players are also not locked in to long-term contracts and could well leave.

Basketball has made them rich and famous, and without joy it's increasingly tempting to pursue individual goals, whatever they may be.

John, Paul, George, and Ringo went on to varying degrees of success in their subsequent careers, but none achieved the acclaim they had as a group. The young men who comprise the Golden State Warriors have many choices to make and conflicting goals to prioritize in the months ahead.

Not even on their list is the regret they could feel at age 60 if they break up the band too soon. Fans, appreciate them now; sometimes you don't know it's the last performance until it's come and gone.

Steph Posterizes CPIII

...on Family Feud.

Six answers, but what's the seventh?

The rules are simple: contestants guess the most likely answers that audiences give to questions. The questions are often constructed so that one cannot really say on national television what one is thinking ---especially if one is an NBA superstar.

A bald head? He shows more confidence taking an 80-ft shot

When the Chris Paul family faced off against the Stephen Curry family, the Curry clan won the match though they lost the first round because Steph refused to use wife Ayesha's answer.

Question: If a male stripper was nicknamed Popeye, what might he have? [Hint: the first six answers could have applied to the cartoon character Popeye, but what about a stripper named Popeye?]

(Answer revealed after the break.)

Appreciate What You're Seeing

Stephen Curry bellows in triumph; his teammates are
happy but a bit more subdued (Chron photo)

The Golden State Warriors are the 2018 NBA Champions, sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers four games to none on Friday night.

Monday morning quarterbacks are saying they've known this would happen since last year's Finals, but winning it all looked far from certain to this non-expert. Stars Iguodala and Curry missed playoff games with injuries, and the mighty Houston Rockets for a while seemed to have their number in the Western Conference finals.

Kevin Durant repeated as Finals MVP.

At the highest level of any sport a "minor" injury or a family issue or jealousy of a teammate or a problem with a coach is like a grain of sand in the gears of a Porsche. The finely tuned engine easily loses its edge and becomes entirely normal. In other words the Warriors are human beings, and nothing is guaranteed.

Just ask Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, or Hillary Clinton.

NBA Finals Game 1

Wow. What a game.

Possible game- or season-ending injury to Klay Thompson (it wasn't).

Overturning of an offensive foul by Kevin Durant in the last 40 seconds; the review perhaps was contrary to rules and cost Cleveland the game.

"Chippiness": "The Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson challenged [Draymond] Green to a fight after the two engaged in a brief skirmish in the final seconds."

Blunder by Cavalier J.R. Smith in the final seconds of a tie game:

Only good things could happen, and Smith had three obvious options. He could attempt a game-winner, by lofting a quick put-back or dribbling into a turnaround jumper. He could call for timeout and let coach Tyronn Lue draw up a play. Or he could pass out to LeBron James, who had already scored 49 points on Thursday and who had hit two game-winners earlier this postseason.

Instead, J.R. Smith, thinking the Cavs had the lead (according to his coach), dribbled out the remaining seconds, and the Warriors won in overtime.

Overtime.

Great performance by Stephen Curry, who rained in 3-pointers and took it to the rim with balletic grace.

One of the all-time greatest Finals performance by one of the all-time greatest NBA players, LeBron James, who scored 51 points. The Warriors threw everyone at him but couldn't stop him.

Art imitates life. LeBron James is the super-being Thanos, who an army of super-heroes couldn't take down in Avengers: Infinity War.

I’m not saying LeBron James and Thanos are the same person, but have you seen them in the same room together? #StayWoke pic.twitter.com/gGKWfcGOE8

— Kierre Luat (@KierreLuat) May 6, 2018

Peak Bay Area Sports

Signing autographs at Lefty's in 2012.

Our young Giants fan got his autograph in 2012.

We watched him hit his first grand slam home run in 2014. (He hit two in 2014, more grand slams than Yankee future Hall-of-Fame shortstop Derek Jeter hit in his entire career.)

Before last night's Wild Card single-elimination game against the Mets, Madison Bumgarner was already one of the best postseason pitchers in baseball history.

After he completed the shut out against the Mets, baseball observers could only marvel:

Bumgarner showed again that he absolutely owns the postseason. This four-hitter was not even his first in a wild-card game; he also did it in 2014 in Pittsburgh....In his last nine postseason games, Bumgarner is 6-0 with a 0.79 E.R.A., and that very big [five-inning save against the Royals in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series].

With the Warriors and Sharks about to begin a season where both teams are expected to be championship contenders, with the Giants entering a playoff run, and with all-time great players like Madison Bumgarner and Stephen Curry playing for home teams, Bay Area sports fans have never had more to look forward to (and please, don't let's talk about the 49ers).

"A League-Shaking Coup"

Kevin Durant and GSW coach Steve Kerr (Chronicle photo)
Mirroring: "mutual trust, connection and understanding"

Basketball superstar Kevin Durant announced yesterday that he is joining the Golden State Warriors. NBA observers were agog at the instant creation of a super-team:

This isn’t just a signing, this is a league-shaking coup....

The Warriors have done nothing short of constructing a superteam, and they deserve full credit for the execution of their successful recruiting pitch, which reportedly included owner Joe Lacob, the team’s star players, and even a phone call from Hall of Famer Jerry West. As a result of landing Durant, Golden State’s roster now represents 25% of USA Basketball’s Olympic team and it features two MVPs, two scoring champs, four All-Stars, and four All-NBA selections (all of whom are 28 or younger). The Warriors’ fourth-best player once scored 37 points in a single quarter and their fifth-best player was named Finals MVP. Give me a break.

With all of that in mind, the best-case scenario for this experiment is a word not often spoken in the modern NBA: Dynasty.

The Warriors are not only the 2017 favorites to win the NBA title, but their odds are an unprecedented better-than-even ("the Warriors have a better chance at winning next year's title than the other 29 teams combined").

Not even Tiger Woods, who won four consecutive Grand Slam tournaments in 2000-2001, commanded such respect from the sports books. (He was even-money to win the U.S. Open in 2001.)

As Most Fathers Do

LeBron supplants Steph as best player; Zhuri takes over
from Riley as cutest daughter (SF Chronicle photo)

It was indeed a Happy Father's Day for yours truly: some productivity (a few duties at morning service, finding the right parts at Home Depot), some relaxation (an afternoon nap does wonders), and great entertainment (a close, hard-fought Game 7 of the NBA Finals).

Yes, we have followed the Warriors all season and had a rooting interest, but we weren't as disappointed by the loss as we thought we would be.

LeBron James is an estimable Finals' Most Valuable Player (the 31-year-old has always displayed grace, IMHO, despite being under incredible media scrutiny since he was a teenager), it's about time that the City of Cleveland experienced the joy of a championship parade, and besides, the Warriors didn't deserve the title from the way they played (the team didn't score any points in the final four minutes, thirty-nine seconds of the game).

The Warriors only lost by four points, 93-89, and will likely be contenders for the rest of the decade. So cheer up, fans, and have some perspective, as most fathers do.

Dell, Where Are You Hiding the Rocket?

"I'm back!" (Image from sport1.de)

Two weeks after he banged his knee badly in an NBA playoff game against the Houston Rockets, Stephen Curry returned to action against the Portland Trailblazers in Game 4 of the second-round playoff series. He missed his first nine three-point attempts and looked human. But he was just calibrating his shot.

Curry...came super-alive. He scored the Warriors’ first 12 points in overtime in their win, on two three-pointers, a bank shot, a rebound and putback, and a fastbreak layup.

Steph Curry wound up scoring 17 points in overtime---the most by a player in any overtime game, regular season or playoffs---and 40 points total for the evening.

78 weeks after my injury the leg still hurts a little, while Steph's leg is "153%" after two weeks, according to the Chronicle writer. His return to action proves what I've long suspected: the NBA's most "down to earth" superstar wasn't born on this planet.

One More

One sign that the Golden State Warriors are must-see TV is that it's difficult to land a seat at a sports bar to view the game.

We did garner a table last Saturday, but we had to watch the Dubs at a distance. The waiter parked us in the one corner with TVs that didn't show close-ups of Steph Curry.

Cleveland-Chicago basketball, NHL hockey, and even a video poker game were the choices. No matter, 12 big screens enabled us to follow the action to the very end of an exciting game: Warriors 100, Grizzlies 99. Waiter! yes, I'll have one more.

Warriors: Appreciate the Moment

The Golden State Warriors' quest to break the all-time record of 72 victories by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls was looking a bit shaky two weeks ago when they dropped two games at home to the underdog Celtics and Timberwolves.

Warriors fans were worried by the uncharacteristic pair of losses, but the NBA and television networks were overjoyed; normally the top teams rest their star players to get ready for the playoffs but now the Warriors had to win the last four games of the season to notch 73 wins. It was must-see TV, not only in the Bay Area but for basketball fans nationwide.

Tonight, the last game of the season, they won their 73rd victory, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies 125-104.

Stephen Curry after 3-pt shot No. 400 (Chronicle photo)

And oh yes, Stephen Curry made his 402nd three-point shot for the season, which obliterated the record of 286 set by him last year. The NY Times says that 402 three-pointers "is the equivalent of hitting 103 home runs in a Major League Baseball season."

Why are we mentioning these records? Because we doubt strongly that we will see either of them broken in our lifetime. Next year the Warriors are likely to be slowed by age, injury, and key departures of players and coaches. Also, the NBA's defensive minds will come up with schemes to defang their high-powered offense.

Appreciate the moment, folks, because it won't come our way again.

Super Steph

2012 in Burlingame: Just another good NBA player with fans.

Not being a sports blogger, your humble observer has had to restrain himself from commenting too often on the wondrous works of the Golden State Warriors, who are tearing up the NBA. If past months are prologue, they are well on their way to being regarded as the greatest basketball team of all time and Stephen Curry as one of history's greatest players.

Our unambitious prediction from 2012: "the Golden State Warriors are quietly moving toward respectability."

Professional basketball analysts have been more effusive about Mr. Curry:

SF Chronicle - "Stephen Curry’s shot a thing of scientific beauty":

“I’m absolutely certain Curry releases the ball at the angle of the softest shot,” [physics professor John] Fontanella said last week. “What that means is, he has mastered the technique of when the ball gets to the rim, it travels as slowly as it possibly can.

“I’ve never seen anyone with a quicker release,” Fontanella said. “The science, quite simply, is the ball travels a shorter distance before the release. That’s part of it.[snip]

“The second part is the wrist bend and the wrist snap. The shot occurs in a single motion; on a true jump shot, you put the ball on top of your head and then you snap the wrist. … He catches the ball and it goes to the basket in one motion.”

Fontanella called him the most ambidextrous player he’s seen.

Also consider Curry’s body control. Fontanella pointed to the way Curry jumps almost straight up on every shot — maybe a little forward, but remarkably on balance amid the speed of an NBA game.

“I’ve never seen anyone with more consistent body motion,” Fontanella said.

New York Times - "It’s Stephen Curry’s Game Now":

Stephen Curry, a butterfly with a jump shot who is reshaping people’s understanding of the game...is an outlier. He has caused a tipping point in basketball.

(WSJ Graphic)

Wall Street Journal - "Stephen Curry’s Science of Sweet Shooting; How a Nearly Perfect Shot Changes Every Golden State Warriors Game":

To watch Stephen Curry play basketball is to witness a shooter unlike any the NBA has ever seen.

His kinetic efficiency comes from Curry shooting as he’s jumping, rather than jumping and then shooting, which also lets him release the ball in as little as 0.3 second.

The result is a sharp arc that has become Curry’s shooting hallmark....Curry’s shot is mathematically optimal, said John Carter of Noah Basketball.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Steph does not put his pants on one leg at a time but hops into them with a single bound.

Where is He Now?

Three years after "Linsanity" Jeremy Lin has settled into the role of backup point guard with the Charlotte Hornets. As the experts constantly reminded us in 2012, Jeremy Lin's middle-of-the-road NBA talent caught lightning when injuries gave Jeremy a chance to show off his passing skills in New York, the center of the media universe.

Jeremy Lin's success made a few players resentful, but he showed humor and spiritual gracefulness as he descended from heights impossible to sustain.

He maintains a good relationship with many in the NBA; witness current and former teammates who appeared in his recent video.



As we said three years ago, "this young man has exhibited such a high degree of media savvy that we expect to see him around long after his playing days are over."

Not Normal

The upward trajectory of Stephen Curry's career matches the slope of his shot. After being drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 2009, the point guard first attracted notice for his long-range shot-making ability. But it was his continued improvement in assists, rebounding, and defense, as well as that of the entire Warriors team, that resulted in Steph Curry being voted the 2014-2015 Most Valuable Player in the league.

However, it's still his shooting that brings fans to their feet. Earlier tonight Steph Curry led his team into the third round of the NBA playoffs (four rounds determine the champion), something that the Warriors hadn't accomplished for 39 years. The shot that broke the backs of the veteran Memphis Grizzlies was a 62-foot buzzer beater at the end of the 3rd quarter.

With fans in Burlingame in 2012

Steph Curry's feat is akin to sinking a hole-in-one near the end of a golf tournament.....after the golfer took but one second to line up his shot. Steph Curry is one of the league's most popular players, partly because his 6'3" 190-pound frame can pass for "normal."

Except that he's clearly not.

Mathematically Optimal

ESPN: "Stephen Curry is reinventing shooting"

At 6'3", Warriors All-Star guard Stephen Curry had to learn how to shoot with a high arc to prevent his shots from being blocked (the NBA average height is 6'7"). It turns out that Steph Curry's necessary adaptation produced a better way to shoot:

The average three-pointer this season reaches a maximum height of 15.77 feet, according to Stats LLC, which tracks such geospatial coordinates with high-resolution cameras in every NBA arena. Curry threes average 16.23 feet.

This is the science to Curry’s art: The steeper a shot, the wider the opening into the rim. Dallas Mavericks free-throw coach Gary Boren has a peculiar way of illustrating this fact. He lowers a hoop to the floor and has players climb a ladder. “You can’t change the size of the ball,” he said, “but you can change the size of the target.”

Curry’s shot is mathematically optimal, said John Carter of Noah Basketball, whose technology has determined that the ideal entry angle for a three-point shot is about 45 degrees. Carter says the most skilled shooters he has studied use even higher trajectories. At the request of The Wall Street Journal, Lynchburg College physicist Eric Goff analyzed Curry’s in-game threes and found that they entered the rim around 46 degrees.

Stephen Curry is even more popular because his slight physique is closer to that of the average Joe yet has not been an impediment to success. He unselfishly dishes out the ball (#5 in the league in assists) and patiently signs autographs after games. If we're lucky, the 27-year-old star will be "reinventing shooting" in front of Bay Area fans for years to come.