His Warrior teammates admire Steph’s humility
SAN FRANCISCO — Jordan Poole knocked down a buzzer-beater from almost midcourt when Stephen Curry made a point to catch his gaze, and that celebratory stare down told so much about the veteran guard’s pride for his young teammate.
Curry expressed as much joy for Poole hitting the jaw-dropping shot from deep as he would had it been him, the superstar who already has more than his share of three-pointers from way, way back. That’s Selfless Steph — never one to let his ego get in the way of Golden State’s success.
Curry still did plenty while scoring 29 points to lead the Warriors to a 10788 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night, evening the best-of-seven series at 1-1 as it shifts to Boston for Game 3 tonight.
He applauded Poole for maintaining momentum going into the final period.
“That was obviously a big shot to get the crowd into it,” Curry said. “Put kind of a dagger on that great third quarter that we had.”
Thinking back on how far he has come, from being selected as Golden State’s undersized first-round draft pick out of Davidson College in 2009 to all the losing early on in his career and a remarkable rise into one of the NBA’s greatest ever, Curry regularly acknowledges his gratitude.
“I’ve said it many times, Steph reminds me so much of Tim Duncan,” Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said. “When I played with Timmy, there was the same vibe, this incredible, authentic humility and humor and joy behind the scenes. Then, frankly, a real arrogance on the floor, like ‘I’m the best player out here.’ It’s the perfect kind of leader, someone who you feel comfortable with in the locker room but somebody who you can count on to take you where you need to go on the floor.
“That’s what Steph possesses. It’s a very rare combination of qualities. But it’s what makes him special.”
Curry exhibits that humility in how he goes about his daily business without worrying how many points he scores from night to night, assists he dishes out or arm flexes he gets to perform in the faces of adoring fans who chant “M-V-P!” at every chance.
He is relishing the process of helping the inexperienced Warriors players find their path — for this postseason and well beyond.
Earlier this year, the newly crowned all-time three-point leader took great delight in the spotlight shining on teammate Andrew Wiggins as he earned his first career All-Star Game selection and was named a Western Conference starter.
That unselfish nature goes back years. When Kevin Durant arrived with huge fanfare in 2016, Curry quietly took a back seat and allowed Durant to find his place with a new team. It was an important gesture that ultimately ended with two championships together and consecutive finals MVP honors for Durant.
If Curry and Co. can win it all once more, he will join a star-studded list of players with two or more MVPs and four titles: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, LeBron James, Magic Johnson and Duncan.