Panthers’ Newton lauds Curry, team

Count Carolina quarterback Cam Newton among those who are in awe of Stephen Curry and the Warriors.

“From my basketball ability, I can dunk but I’d rather be able to shoot like Steph,” Newton told reporters Wednesday. “I think we all (would). I watch basketball in disbelief not only in what Steph does, but everybody affiliated with the Golden State Warriors.

“That team is a great unit. We try to mimic it certain times as well.”

Newton’s high praise came three days after Curry took to Twitter to laud Newton’s hops. In the wake of watching Newton go airborne at the Falcons’ 3-yard line, seemingly dunking the ball off the helmet of an Atlanta defender on a 9-yard touchdown run, Curry tweeted: “Cam out there dunking on people now? I’ll have to ask him what that feeling is like later #iplaybelowtherim.”

The budding friendship between Curry and Newton is well-documented.

Curry, a longtime Panthers fan, started chatting regularly with Newton after visiting Carolina training camp in the summer of 2012. They attend each other’s games when possible. During Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium, Curry wore his custom No. 30 Panthers jersey and served as the team’s “Keep Pounding” drummer. Durant injury: Andre Iguodala’s stay with the first unit doesn’t figure to last long. Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said that Kevin Durant, sidelined by a left thigh contusion, would be playing if it were the playoffs. Durant is expected to be dayto-day. “We have a couple more nights before our next game, so he should be fine, I would think, by then,” Kerr said. “Those quad bruises are painful and not something you really want to mess around with. So, we’ll be cautious about it and get him right.”

Durant suffered the injury curling off a screen on the first offensive play of Monday’s win over Miami. In 33 minutes, he scored 21 points on 5-for-13 shooting.