Curry’s mom: cut out the on-court cussing
Yes, Stephen Curry’s mom heard what her son said during Sunday night’s game.
And, yes, Stephen Curry heard from Sonya Curry very soon after the Warriors’ 41-point annihilation of the Houston Rockets in Game 3.
To review: Curry, after 10 quarters of subpar play in this series, got his groove back Sunday night, scoring 18 points in the third quarter en route to a 35-point game. On one play during the third-quarter madness, Curry drove the lane and flipped in the prettiest running one-hander you could ever hope to see.
It was the kind of Curry flurry that makes a fellow want to express his joie de vivre — which Curry did on national TV: “This is my (expletive) house!” he shouted to the Oracle Arena crowd.
It wasn’t audible on TV, but you didn’t have to be lip reader to know what was said. Sonya Curry knew.
“She already sent me two home videos, showing me the clip and playing it back,” Steph told ESPN. “She was telling me how I need to wash my mouth out, saying to wash it out with soap. It’s a message I’ve heard before. She’s right. I gotta do better. I can’t talk like that.”
Curry’s father, Dell, who played 16 NBA seasons, joined KNBR’s Murph and Mac Monday morning, and took the blame for his son’s slip-up.
“Some of my buddies texted me right away, and I said, ‘Ah, I am afraid he got that from Pops,’” said Dell, laughing. “Sometimes, you just get carried away. The emotions run; (there is a) little frustration there of not having played the way he is capable of playing the first couple games. It happens.”
Kevin Durant, however, was the most understanding of Curry’s slip up. In fact, he liked it. Durant replied by using derivative form of the same word.
Durant added that sometimes that extra bit of emotion is necessary.
“When he released an F-bomb of course I like it because that word is just an important word when you’re playing basketball,” Durant said. “It means so much. But I just like his excitement for the game and his intensity. The crowd feeds off that and we feed off the crowd.”
• Durant seemed pretty annoyed Sunday when Charles Barkley
took a shot at Draymond Green when he joined the TNT crew’s postgame roundtable discussion.
But at Monday’s practice, Durant played the role of the diplomat.
“I was ready for just about anything when it comes to Charles,” Durant said. “I know everything he says is a joke. I know he’s on TV and that’s his job. You never take anything serious. But you still got to let him know that it’s not joke time all the time.
“But it’s all fun and games.” The moment in question happened when Barkley asked Durant: “Is Draymond Green as annoying in person as he is on television?” Deadpanned Durant: “You should go talk to him, he’s downstairs.”
When Durant was asked Monday if Barkley’s comment was unfair to Green, he responded in a measured way.
“No, I wouldn’t call him — we’re grown men at the end of the day,” Durant said.
But Durant added that Barkley didn’t take his advice and confront Green.
“No, I don’t think so,” Durant said.
• Rockets guard Chris Paul continues to struggle. With Sunday night’s numbers — 13 points in 33 minutes on 5 of 16 shooting — Paul is shooting 40 percent and averaging 17 points in the series. Following Game 2 win, Paul was seen with a wrap around his lower right leg and the TV cameras have captured him getting treatment on the bench.
“I’m okay,” Paul said Monday . “I’m trying to get treatment and all that and get ready for tomorrow. We’re trying to what we can do to make adjustments to win Game 4.”
The Rockets, by the way, were feeling pretty good about their chances Monday.
“Golden State has all the pressure,” said Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni. “They got to win tomorrow night. We should come in with a little bit of swagger and giddy up in our game.”
If it were up to Kerr, D’Antoni would be right.
“I hope so. We’re much better when the pressure is on,” Kerr said.
• Kerr wants the NBA to rescind the technical foul that Green was assessed in the fourth quarter of Game 3.
It happened with 6:49 left, when Green held Ariza as he drove to the basket, and then apparently tried to hold him up as he fell to the ground. Green then said something to Ariza, who responded by shoving Green.
They were assessed doubletechnical fouls on the play.
“I thought it was unfair, but we’ll take it up with the league,” Kerr said. “He committed a hard foul, but he held Ariza up and didn’t allow him to get hurt. And then Ariza shoved him. It didn’t seem like a double-technical to me. So we’ll take it up with the league and we’ll see what happens.”
Durant said he didn’t quite know what happened on the play. He chalked it up to two fiery guys who want to win.
“They both got enough money to pay for that,” Durant said.