The Warriors are admittedly far from what they hope to become this season. Even though they’re right near the top of the Western Conference with a 7-2 record, they’re still working through the continuity issues that come with introducing a high-volume superstar like Kevin Durant onto their team. Still, they have more talent than anybody in the league and that typically shines through on a nightly basis.

They’re deadly in the half-court, but the new-look Dubs might be even better during a mad scramble when their athleticism and outer-worldly ability takes over.

Take for instance, this sequence, where Kevin Durant somehow prances his gigantic frame across the court and makes up about five feet of space to block a Devin Booker dunk attempt. That’s not the end of it though, because KD slapped the attempt so hard it caromed to Steph Curry, who proceeded to jog up the court and nonchalantly nail a 30-footer in P.J. Tucker’s face.

It’s just a glimpse of the peak the Warriors hope to reach, both defensively and offensively. Everybody knows they’re capable, as a block by Durant and a long three-pointer by Curry have become standard. And now it’s just a waiting game until they start stringing sequences like this together consistently.

Steph Curry is one of the most creative players on the court with the ball in his hands, so it only makes sense you’d have to be similarly as creative to get his autograph.

Enter the father and son pair from Philadelphia, who waited outside the Wells Fargo Center Friday night before the Warriors had their shootaround to prep for their game against the 76ers Saturday night. Dangling a folded jersey and a Sports Illustrated (with Steph gracing the cover, natch) on clipboards, the two managed to get the star point guard to sign each before pulling them back up and taking them home.

Even better, it looks like Steph found their fishing expedition funny enough to take a little shot of their “lines” as they were pulling them back. Quite frankly, it’s amazing how well the guy takes all the attention he’s received over the past two years. He’s always friendly, gregarious and just continually appears grateful for all of the appreciation. This won’t be the first road game this season he’s got some fans in the audience, that’s for sure.

As for the anglers themselves, we’re betting this was the best catch they’ve ever gotten no matter how many father-son fishing excursions they might have taken. It’s easy to catch a fish, but as Kawhi Leonard found out this week, it’s much harder to catch a Steph Curry.

The Steph Curry–Drake bromance is well-documented (as is Drake’s bromance with anybody who’s ever been good at anything, ever). The two have enjoyed a little late-night In ‘N Out Burger before, and the Curry household has never been shy about doing Drake parodies involving everyday activities. But that’s nothing compared to Drake dropping a couple of Golden State references in his song “Summer Sixteen,” one of which involves Curry directly.

According to Curry, the story behind the lyric “Golden State running practice at my house” in “Summer Sixteen” comes from a rather mundane time he and his brother-in-law were playing one-on-one at Drake’s house with the rap star, plus family and friends, in the “stands.”

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But, hey, when you’re a rich and famous rap star, it’s only natural to want to write lyrics about times that you hung out with other rich and famous people. (Note: it would be understandable that Drake would not write about playing Curry one-on-one, as that would inevitably have disastrous results for Drake.)

Curry also shed some light on how teammate Draymond Green reacted to getting a name drop in the song. It’s only a matter of time before Drake makes the clean sweep and mentions the entire Warriors roster, coaching staff and entire front office.

Now Watch: Chris Paul Hacks The Hack-A-Jordan

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The Golden State Warriors have officially said Steph Curry will miss at least two weeks with a sprained MCL. However, no two knees, and no two injuries, are the same. Thus, the actual timeline of Curry’s absence is actually a lot more unclear.

According to Curry, though, he’ll try to play again before he’s 100 percent — whenever that may be. Speaking with reporters, via USA Today, Curry said he’s not worry about the structure of his knee.

Structurally (the knee is) sound. So knowing that, if I go out there I’m not going to hurt it any more. But there’s obviously pain thresholds and things that can shut your knee down if you’re not ready to go. So it’s kind of a fine balance….I won’t wait until I’m like, whatever, 100 percent, because obviously there’s a sense of urgency with the playoffs. But I won’t rush it to the point where I’m putting myself in danger.

Curry added that the two-week prognosis “was an educated guess” and that he hopes to be back before May 10th. The Warriors didn’t need Curry to beat Houston in the first round of the playoffs, and probably don’t need him in the second round when they’ll face either Portland or Los Angeles (especially if it’s the Clippers).

Still, the Warriors are hoping Curry’s right, and that he’s recovering faster than the initial timeline suggested.

(Via USA Today) 

USA TODAY Sports

PORTLAND — Damian Lillard has a tendency to recoil at the Steph Curry comparisons. He’s his own man. If he plays like anyone, he plays like Damian Lillard. That’s his prickly refrain whenever those analogies inevitably crop up, like they have several times before this season, most notably after Lillard scored a career-high 51 points in the Blazers’ stunning 32-point blowout win over the defending champs back in February.

At the time, it was Curry’s own coach, Steve Kerr, who saw in Lillard that same ruthless swagger combined with a lethal and otherworldly shooting ability. So you’ll have to forgive him if he couldn’t help but gush a bit once again Saturday night after his team found itself on the wrong end of yet another one of Lillard’s incendiary performances.

“He’s tough,” Kerr said. “He’s a lot like Steph in that he’s got unlimited range and he can shoot off the dribble, come off high screens, step-backs and that kind of stuff. We know he’s going to be a handful. He always is, and he played a great game.”

And Kerr wasn’t the only one who noticed shades of the still-sidelined two-time MVP in Lillard’s 40-point explosion in Game 3 (a career playoff high), which was punctuated by 8-of-13 shooting from long-range. Klay Thompson, who had 35 points of his own in the loss, immediately thought of his fellow Splash sibling when asked about Lillard’s play.

USA TODAY Sports

“You gotta treat Lillard like Steph as far as being 30-35 feet away from the basket, make him put it on the floor, give it up,” Thompson said. “We let him get too many rhythm threes off the catch tonight. That’s where he’s deadly.”

It’s perfectly understandable why Lillard would bristle at the notion that he’s little more than a cheap facsimile of the league’s best player. He finds motivation wherever he can, whether that takes the form of a USA Basketball invite that got lost in the mail, an All-Star snub, or the fact that no one has given his team a chance in these playoffs.

But the truth is, without Lillard playing at a Curry-like level from start to finish, his team doesn’t stand a chance at all. Just look at what happened in the Blazers’ Game 2 meltdown. At a glance, Lillard’s stat line was impressive: 25 points, six assists, four rebounds, a pair of steals, and 6-of-11 shooting from behind the arc. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. An 11-point fourth-quarter lead quickly turned into an 11-point loss after the Warriors outscored the Blazers 34-12 in the final frame. Coincidentally, Lillard attempted just three shots in the fourth and missed all of them.

That’s not to say he deserves all the blame, but as Lillard goes, so go the Blazers. Ergo, on Saturday, with his team in an eerily-similar position, up 13 going into the fourth, Lillard made damn sure it wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened Tuesday night in Game 2. He scored 10 of his game-high 40 in the final period, the highlights of which were two extremely difficult shots from way downtown on back-to-back possessions with just under two minutes remaining to put the game out of reach and broke his opponents’ spirits. Decide for yourself who this reminds you of.

But while the Moda Center was basking in the light of Lillard’s atomic glow, the Blazers have such a small margin for error against even a Curry-less Warriors team that it also took a Herculean effort from members of the supporting cast to help seal it.

Al-Farouq Aminu was almost perfect in Game 3 as he missed just a single shot (8-of-9 overall, 4-of-5 from distance) en route to 23 points and 10 assists, proving once again that he might be the biggest x-factor for the Blazers if he could only find some consistency. He also absolutely dropped the hammer on Andrew Bogut with this one.

C.J. McCollum chipped in 22 points, while Ed Davis added eight points, 10 rebounds, and a pair of blocks off the bench as he filled in beautifully for Mason Plumlee, who was limited to just 17 minutes due to foul trouble. In an odd bit of serendipity, Bogut picked up his fifth foul early in the third as well, which changed the whole outlook of the game for both teams.

Instead of turning to Festus Ezeli, who was huge in Game 2, Kerr simply slid Draymond Green over to center as they’ve done so many times this season to great results. The Blazers opted not to guard him out on the perimeter, so he proceeded to score 19 points in the third quarter alone and finished with a team-high 37 overall, including eight three-pointers of his own.

But aside from Green and Thompson, the Warriors got little-to-no help from anyone else.

Harrison Barnes was particularly atrocious as he notched just seven points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field, including 1-of-3 from downtown in 33 minutes of action, while Bogut, Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala, and Ian Clark all scored in single digits. The Blazers caught a serious break on that front, and it’s very difficult to imagine the Warriors’ bench — arguably the best in the league — being this inconsequential again the series.

The Blazers now have all the momentum heading into Game 4 at home on Monday with an opportunity to tie the series 2-2. It’s not exactly the same position they were in in the opening round against the Clippers as this Warriors team is still significantly more dangerous even without their best player, but the Blazers have to take what they can get at this point. If they want to make this series truly interesting, it’s going to take more MVP-level play from Lillard and more Warriors-like production from their role players.

There’s always that initial fear that a celebrity is trending because they’ve suddenly died. And then there are celebrities who constantly trend for making inflammatory comments. Neither rings true for Ayesha Curry, though. Know that Steph’s wife is the only person you can be sure is alive and well and hasn’t said anything horrible whenever she trends on Twitter. She’s also the only person who can incite a Twitter war just by being a supportive wife.

Cameras captured the cookbook author yelling out “Let’s go, baby!” and cheering on Steph after he drained a tie-breaking three halfway into the third quarter of the Warriors/Blazers game Wednesday night. Just that five-second glimpse caused Twitter to erupt with sexists and misogynists using Ayesha to make their “you hoes need to be like Ayesha and less like Cardi B” comparisons.

“Look at Ayesha Curry supporting her man,” tweeted one Prince Charming after the NBA wife’s cheer. “Now that’s a real woman you Twitter hoes should take notes.” Another God’s gift to women called an entire generation of women “sad” because of how popular the mother of two is, tweeting out, “The fact that Ayesha Curry is worshiped for doing what she’s supposed to do just goes to show how sad our generation of women are lol.”

Obviously, the ridiculous tweets didn’t sit right with everyone.

Ayesha Curry isn’t a fan of any of the tweets and memes using her likeness for misogynistic purposes. During an interview with Essence last month, the 27-year-old Mrs. Curry said she wasn’t okay with pitting women against other women.

“I wonder why people are so hateful sometimes. I just don’t get it. I want people to know these memes aren’t coming from me and I didn’t endorse them,” Curry told the publication in April. “I have a feeling whoever is making them is mostly men trying to pit women against each other and that’s something I don’t stand for, especially with us black women. I just wish we could support each other a little bit more. I want everybody to succeed.”

Steph Curry is now back from injury, and he reclaimed his place on top of the NBA world without skipping a beat. Almost.

The two-time MVP and first ever unanimous MVP showed us his human side when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver left Steph hanging and didn’t shake his hand.

Steph didn’t really mind. Look at the way he shakes it off, it’s like he’s creating a new dance move. Even when he is getting denied, he’s smooth. What do we call this, Internet? The dis-shimmy? (When someone shimmies his or her way out of being dissed?) Someone out there in the world, please help us come up with a better name!

The two were able to reconnect and laugh it off by giving each other a real bro-hug. One that will forever bond the two in NBA Twitter glory.

Now that DapGate is settled, the world can begin to focus on the Western Conference Final match up between Golden State and Oklahoma City. Despite being injured, Steph is – as he proclaimed – definitely BACK. But OKC is still an intriguing opponent after taking down the Spurs in a beatdown. I’m not at liberty to call this series just yet; I’ll be over here practicing my dis-shimmy. Just in case.

If you pay attention to the NBA at all, and the talk that surrounds the NBA, you’ve assuredly heard a lot of blather from various former players about the modern game. Granted, this is not unique to the NBA. You hear it in every sport, and also music, TV, and basically everywhere. However, with the proliferation of the three-point shot in the NBA, and the way the game is fundamentally changing, the talk is getting even louder amongst the Charles Barkleys and Charles Oakleys and other guys named Charles of the world. One legendary player, though, is able to break free from the chains of self-aggrandizement, and that’s Larry Bird.

Bird, alongside Reggie Miller, was interviewed for an article about the rise in the three-point shot, and the possibility of a four-point shot. Miller says a bunch of bizarre stuff in the piece, but, you know, he’s Reggie Miller, so nobody is surprised. Bird, however, did have something interesting to say, as he opined on the modern league at length:

“It’s funny how the game has changed, and my thinking about it. I was really worried—back sixteen, seventeen years ago—that the little guy didn’t have a spot in the N.B.A. anymore: it was just going to be the big guards like Magic Johnson. But then players started shooting more threes and spacing the court, and everyone wants small guards now. Watching these kids play now, I’m like everybody else: Wow, man. They can really shoot! They have more freedom to get to the basket. The ball moves a little better. These kids are shooting from farther, with more accuracy. Now some teams shoot up around thirty threes a game. My era, you always think that’s the greatest era. But I’m not so sure anymore.”

Larry Bird is able to both feel strongly about his own era, but also recognize that, perhaps, it is possible for it to not be the best era of all-time. See, other former NBA players, it’s not so hard.

(Via The New Yorker)

The Cavaliers and Warriors will meet once again on Thursday to kick off their second-consecutive NBA Finals matchup with plenty of storylines ripe for the taking. Cleveland is looking for revenge — and for LeBron to bring a title to his hometown — while the Warriors are seeking to cap off the greatest regular season in league history.

But before Game 1 gets underway, it’s only right that the hyped-up series gets the Taiwanese animation treatment it deserves. It wastes no time in getting right to the good stuff, as Drake is immediately run over by a car in the first 15 seconds.

That seems only right considering how much trash the rapper talked during the Cavs-Raptors series. Of course, he’s gotten plenty of it back in his direction since the Raps were eliminated last week.

The Taiwanese animators also stuck with the recurring theme of testicular assault in this year’s NBA playoffs. Here’s Kyrie Irving, who’s apparently two feet tall, giving Steph Curry a good ol’ punt in the nuts.

Of course Draymond Green had to get in on the action, as well, and because Steven Adams’ kiwis are out of the picture, he needed to find some new fruits to juice. Unfortunately for LeBron, it’s his produce getting pounded this time around.

Speaking of LeBron, the animators had some fun with his much-criticized flop from the skirmish with Toronto. Somehow he wound up in the ocean and got eaten by a shark.

And then Kevin Love finally became so soft that he actually morphed into a loaf of Wonder Bread. Tough break for him.

Finally, “Kassius” Klay Thompson (depicted as a literal block of clay) joined forces with Splash Brother Steph Curry to make it rain threes, because there needs to be a little legitimacy to these silly things.

Something tells me the animators will be checking back in at the conclusion of the series to give us an updated breakdown of the action. Hopefully Drake is done picking the pom-poms out of his teeth by then.

If there’s one person to thank for Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors’ complete dismantling of the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday night, it’s apparently the model that was spotted seductively giving a very much married Curry “the eye.”

Roni Rose was thrusted into the spotlight during Game Two of the NBA Finals when cameras captured the model appearing to shoot her shot on national TV with Ayesha’s husband. Dressed in a sexy blue crop top and tight yellow skirt, folks on social media thought Rose looked like she was wanted a piece of the league’s reigning MVP.

Despite the suggestive visuals, Roni says she was just taking a sip of her drink when cameras focused on her. However, if looking hot is what it takes then so be it! She wrote on her Instagram, “Sooo I was just drinking my drink and this happened. I’m just giving the boys a little motivations I guess.”

A brief Google search tells me Roni Rose is a 27-year-old former stripper and current dancer from Hayward, California. Her favorite sports team? Hmm, take a wild guess.

In theory, one wears a mouthguard to, well, guard one’s mouth. Steph Curry, though, seems to have a mouthguard merely so he can chew on it. Oftentimes when you see Curry – and we see him a bunch because he’s the best player in the NBA – he will have his mouthguard dangling from his mouth, especially while he shoots free throws. It’s clearly become a habit for Curry, and now someone has crunched the numbers on his ubiquitous sometimes-mouth-wear.

The Wall Street Journal has dedicated itself to chronicling Curry’s mouth guard position while he shoots free throws. They looked at every free throw he took this season and found that his mouthguard was out of his mouth 84.7 percent of the time. Last year, that number was 63.5 percent. That’s a massive jump. How long will it be until Curry pops his mouthguard out 100 percent of the time when he’s at the charity stripe?

He may want to get there sooner rather than later, because playing with his mouthguard clearly isn’t distracting him in the slightest. Both last season and this season, Curry is shooting his free throws better while he fiddles with the mouthguard as opposed to just keeping it in his mouth. Granted, this postseason he is perfect on free throws with the mouthguard in, but he’s only attempted eight free throws like this, which is a very small sample size.

There are some habits that you should break, but Curry’s habit of chewing on his mouthguard apparently doesn’t need to be addressed.

(Via Wall Street Journal)

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By now, you surely know about Steph Curry’s wife Ayesha going on a bit of a Twitter tirade in which she accused the NBA of rigging Game 6, a game wherein her husband was ejected as the Warriors lost to the Cavaliers to force a Game 7. She later deleted the tweet and apologized for accusing the league of skullduggery, chalking it up to a long, stressful day, one where the father may have been racially profiled. Despite all this, there is one man for which that explanation is not enough. Over at ESPN, Stephen A. Smith, America’s waking nightmare, opened his gaping maw to spew forth his feelings about Ayesha.

In short, Smith wants to know why Ayesha isn’t more like LeBron James’ wife Savannah. About Savannah, Smith said:

“She’s wonderful inside and out. She sits there, she doesn’t bring any attention to herself. She never tweets and goes out there and calls out the league and stuff like that. And nobody — nobody — is more scrutinized than her husband.”

Those are nice words about Savannah, sort of, although it’s also incredibly obnoxious, essentially telling Ayesha not to tweet and to just, you know, be quiet. If anybody shouldn’t be giving people advice on keeping quiet, it’s Smith. Ayesha, rightfully took umbrage with Smith’s comments, and tweeted at him to express her disdain:

At this point, Smith was made aware of Ayesha’s tweets whilst he was on First Take, a show that, if you say its name three times into a mirror, will appear and murder you. He responded with, well, more of the same nonsense. At least ESPN managed to put together a little “Angry Ayesha” logo to go with the proceedings. Presumably, Ayesha may have more to say about Smith, or whatever else she wants. Because she’s not LeBron James’ wife, and she does what she damn well pleases.

(H/T Bleacher Report)

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Steph Curry said a bad word and feels bad.

The Golden State Warriors star got caught up in the moment of a breakout game on Sunday night in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. Curry had 35 points, including 18 in the third quarter where he dropped an f-bomb on national television after a crossover and a silky layup that electrified the crowd.

Curry got his David Ortiz on after that move and yelled out “this is my f–king house” after the shot, finally asserting himself in the series.

It’s easy to see why Curry could get a bit too into it all considering the stakes. He’s struggled with ankle injuries all season and everything finally seemed to click on Sunday. And the Warriors were hosting their first game of the series, a rarity given that they had to go to Houston to kick things off.

But those circumstances don’t mean anything to Mama Curry, and her superstar son issued an apology via ESPN on Sunday night.

“She already sent me two home videos, showing me the clip and playing it back,” Curry 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.”

It’s always kind of funny when a professional athlete’s mother makes them feel bad about an on-court incident, but Curry does seem genuine here.

“She’s right,” Curry told ESPN. “I gotta do better. I can’t talk like that.”

Regardless, it was a huge statement game for the Warriors and one they certainly hope to build on against Houston. After all, they only have two more games in Curry’s house this series.

Under Armour

When it comes to Stephen Curry, most people think of an amazing, almost unreal basketball player living a charmed life. But fashionistas and sneakerheads alike have had good reason to see him differently. Ever since his first pair of “dad shoes” was released, Steph has been seen as kind of a sneaker-deal-gone-wrong (except for the boatloads of cash he was paid). In the summer of 2018, things are finally starting to go right — with the latest designs and colorways from Under Armour (probably a result of their team listening to consumer criticism). As UA fights to get its huge Steph investment on track, they’re experimenting by letting buyers “hack the system,” allowing them to submit their own UA ICON Curry 5 sneaker designs for a chance to show the world how they’re “wired different,” just like the shoe line’s namesake.

The contest, called “Hack of the Week,” consists of four rounds (three to go), where participants will submit their designs via the UA website and UA ICON judges will select the two semifinalists with the highest-scoring submissions. Judgment will be based on the aesthetic of the design, the creativity of the design description, and the designer’s ability to match the theme — tying into how he/she is wired different. Whoever receives the highest number of votes in an Instagram poll on @UABasketball’s Instagram story will move on to the final. The public will vote via @UABasketball’s Instagram Story on which of the four finalists deserve the grand prize.

“Hack of the Week” is open to US and Canadian candidates ages 13 and up who have an Instagram account, and remaining entry periods are as follows:

• 7/30 – 8/5 (Judging 8/6 – 8/12)
• 8/13 – 8/19 (Judging 8/20 – 8/26)
• 8/27 – 9/2 (Judging 9/3 – 9/9)

If you ever had an issue with the designs offered from your favorite player, now is the perfect time to be the change you wish to see in your shoes.

@KristenLedlow

After the Golden State Warriors took Game 1 of the 2015 Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets, Steph Curry stepped to the podium for his post game presser with his 2-year-old daughter, Riley, in tow. She would immediately become the star of the show.

She hilariously told Curry to be quiet because he “was too loud.” She yawned in the middle of Curry’s answers in the most adorable way possible. She waved at reporters in the crowd, then disappeared underneath the tablecloth that covered the table Curry was sitting at. She stole the spotlight and never really gave it back.

Riley’s appearance took on a life of its own. On one side, both NBA fans and NBA Twitter alike couldn’t get enough of Riley, and wanted her sitting next to Curry at every postgame presser so they could soak up all the cuteness she had to offer. On the other, certain media members covering, like ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst, felt it was unprofessional and that Riley’s presence made it harder to do their job. Arguments over children at the postgame podium officially became a thing.

Curry now says he regrets bringing Riley on stage with him.

“I think even as parents, understanding how we’re going to raise kids not only in this crazy society we live in but one that we’re so visible [in], and people are kind of locked into every step we take, every word we say,” Curry told The Undefeated. “One thing I do technically regret in terms of how fast this all came is when I brought Riley on the podium [during the 2015 NBA Finals].”

Though Kemba Walker will be front and center representing Charlotte this weekend during the NBA’s All-Star festivities, its a homecoming of sorts for Curry, too, who grew up in the city and went to college at Davidson, which is also in North Carolina. His return home has caused him to reflect on how he’s raising his children, and whether putting Riley in the spotlight so early was too much, too soon.

“I didn’t know how much that would blow up and how much of a splash she [would make] on the scene. If I could take that one back, I probably would, just because my goal is just to … give my kids the best chance at success and at seeing the world in the proper way … trying to give our kids the best chance to be successful and have a normal life in terms of treating people the right way, having respect, not getting too bigheaded and feeling like everything’s about them,” Curry said.

Steph Curry has reached the sort of superstardom where the choices he makes, even ones that involve his children, can become national news. And that’s a heavy burden to carry, as Curry has now realized.

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One of the most enjoyable things about All-Star Weekend in the NBA is that it allows us to watch how all these superstars interact with each other when the pressure is off and they can let their guard down a little. Practices are more of a hangout session for these guys than anything, and watching players who normally don’t show too much personality during the regular season get to be their regular selves is a treat.

The weekend has also become a place for stars to vent to one another about a style of play they feel locked into, apparently. Steph Curry was chatting with Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer during practice for Team Giannis on Saturday morning, and NBA TV’s mics picked up a pretty fascinating conversation between the two, with Curry relaying to Budenholzer a conversation he and Houston Rockets star James Harden had earlier in the day.

Curry said, basically, that Harden is tired of playing hero ball in Houston.

“I was talking to James, and the first thing he says is like, ‘This is fun, but I want to play different,'” Curry can be heard saying, referencing how much iso basketball Harden plays for the Rockets. “People want him to play like, in a system where they can actually play beautiful basketball.”

Harden is currently on an outrageous run of 31-straight games in which he’s scored at least 30 points, and has done so almost exclusively through iso offense. A whopping 509 of his made baskets this season have been unassisted, compared to 72 buckets that have come by way of the assist. His usage rate currently sits at 39.1 percent, No. 1 in the NBA and seven points higher than any other player that’s logged over 1,000 minutes, per NBA.com. That type of offensive burden can exhaust a player, for sure.

Though the Rockets nearly knocked off the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals last season, there have long been critics that the Rockets iso-heavy style of offense will never get them to the promised land. And despite Harden’s historic dominance this season, the Rockets still sit in just 5th place in the West. If Curry is to be believed, it sounds like Harden is starting to envy the type of offense the Warriors run, and has started to sour on having to carry the Rockets offense on his broad shoulders night after night.

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The Golden State Warriors are a modern basketball dynasty that sometimes feels unbeatable. The regular season has its ebbs and flows, sure, but come spring the Warriors lock in and are a force that few have shown they can handle in a seven-game series.

Regular season games against the Warriors often come down to shooting galleries where Golden State puts up impressive performances. But every now and again, a team gives them a test, and they have to reach back and find a little extra to pull out a win. That’s what it felt like was happening on Friday night when the Warriors hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves. What happened, though, was an extremely weird and somewhat embarrassing result.

Golden State trailed by three in the closing moments of the game, down 130-127 with the ball and 4.4 seconds left on the clock. Curry got the ball in the far corner and launched a three that tied the game with 0.5 seconds left.

But then Curry and the Warriors celebrated, and they almost certainly pointed and laughed at an official on the floor

Why?

The team clearly felt that Kevin Durant deserved a chance to win it with a 4-point play on a previous possession. But the game, now tied at 130, was not over. And on the inbound play with half a second to go, Durant was called for this foul.

Towns made both free throws, and the Timberwolves won. And as you can hear from the Timberwolves broadcast, they felt it was an extremely reasonable call to make.

But it was all a bit bizarre, and it would be presumptive to assume that showing up a ref before the game was over somehow cost the Warriors the game. But it was extremely odd that a team would so openly mock an official, basically as a unit, on the court while a game was underway.

And then they lost on an extremely iffy call to boot. After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr refrained from actually criticizing officials, but it was clear he wasn’t happy with the call.

As expected, Kerr was also upset about the lack of call in Durant’s favor on the three he made late in the game.

It’s clear the Warriors are frustrated after this one, but it’s still the regular season. These games are bound to happen for them, even if it’s under extremely odd circumstances.

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For at least a moment, Golden State Warriors fans could forget about what may loom in the offseason. The Warriors, without Kevin Durant, pulled through in Game 6 to beat the Houston Rockets and return to the Western Conference Finals once more.

Even with Durant injured and on the bench with DeMarcus Cousins, Golden State is obviously one of the league’s best, and the rest of the Association got a reminder of that when the Rockets — which believed they were built for this exact playoff series — were found wanting once more. It’s bitter disappointment for James Harden and company, who had every opportunity to seize a Game 7 and last season were a game away from beating Golden State as well.

Still, there is the question of what happens next. The Warriors haven’t had the most cohesive of seasons, Durant may leave and even some other Warriors stars have been asked about potential turmoil over and over again. But while Durant may leave, the Warriors certainly have plans to keep around the team’s Splash Brothers.

Warriors owner Joe Lacob told ESPN after Game 6 that the franchise hopes to keep Steph Curry and Klay Thompson many years into the future.

“Obviously, my intention is to keep them as part of our organization forever,” Lacob told ESPN. “That’s our goal. We’ll see what happens.”

As ESPN notes, Lacob can’t say that he wants to offer Klay a max contract extension, but it seems entirely likely that’s where it leads. And the sharpshooter has said he’s happy in Golden State again and again — why wouldn’t you be after all those titles and the chance to step up big once more in a Game 6. But it’s a stark contrast to what’s going on with Durant, who everyone thinks is heading elsewhere this summer. Golden State will be worse off without him, for sure, but the future is still bright if the Splash Brothers stick around forever.

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Chris Paul and the Houston Rockets were a team built to beat the beasts of the NBA’s Western Conference, but they’ve fallen short of that goal now on consecutive seasons since Paul joined James Harden in Houston. It’s a tough pill to swallow for both Harden and Paul, who are seeing their window for a title slipping away while Golden State continues to dominate the NBA.

And the loss in Game 6 was a particularly tough one given that Steph Curry struggled the entire first half and Kevin Durant’s minutes were taken up by a litany of bench players who kept pace with the Rockets and pulled away when Curry and Klay Thompson got hot in the fourth quarter. The rivalry between Golden State and Houston is lopsided in the postseason, but it is real. And the Warriors had an extra jolt of adrenaline in Game 6 because of an incident that happened before the game.

Marcus Thompson II’s story for The Athletic leads with a firsthand account of Draymond Green and Steph Curry taunting Chris Paul after the Game 6 win that ended the series between the Rockets and Warriors.

As the story explains, Curry was actually kicked off the court in Houston before Game 6 despite the Warriors reserving some time for him to shoot.

On the night before Friday’s Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, after arriving from the Bay Area, Curry wanted to get some shots up at Toyota Center. The Warriors’ do-it-all manager, Eric Housen, booked the court from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. so Curry could work on his shot. Somehow, Rockets guard Chris Paul got wind. He decided to go to Toyota Center to get shots up, nixing Curry’s reservations. The Warriors’ point guard offered to stick to half a court, but Paul wasn’t having it. Curry was kicked off the Toyota Center court.

Hence: “Kick me off the court again, boy!” And Green replied to Curry’s taunt by screaming, “Kick him off! Kick him off!”

It’s a story that may show Paul as ultra-competitive, but the overall picture and the result of the game that follows certainly paints the Rockets veteran in a poor light. All’s fair in the NBA postseason, and any edge you can get over the opponent might make a difference. But it didn’t make one here, and when the game clock started the court the two teams played on was theirs for either team to dominate. It was Curry, eventually, who got the right to celebrate on it when the time came.

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It was a bit of surprise to see Andrew Iguodala in the Warriors starting lineup for Game 2 of the NBA Finals after he appeared to re-aggravate his calf injury late in Game 1, the same injury that caused him to miss time the previous series against the Portland Trail Blazers. Then, after being leveled by a Marc Gasol screen in the second quarter, Iguodala collapsed clutching his head, and had to briefly leave the game before returning in the second half and hitting a dagger three to seal the Warriors come-from-behind win.

Iguodala has been at this a long time. He’s 35 years old playing in his 14th season in the NBA, and has been the backbone of the Warriors current run of three championships. He was named Finals MVP in 2015, where his insertion into the starting lineup unlocked what would become known as the Warriors “Death Lineup,” and has experienced a total rebirth as a basketball player in his time in the Bay. But he’s clearly playing through a multitude of pain, and with all he’s already accomplished, a reported asked Iggy after Game 2 what his motivation is to keep going.

“I like Steph (Curry),” Iguodala said. “He’s a good dude. A good guy to be around. That’s really the only reason why I like playing basketball. He’s such a good person to ever get backlash from his peers because they’re so jealous of what he has. It’s kind of sticking it to them. So whatever it takes to protect his legacy, I’m all for it.”

Regardless of how you feel about Curry, for a teammate with Iguodala’s reputation to essentially state that the only reason he’s still playing basketball is to protect Curry’s on-court legacy is a pretty endearing thing. The Warriors whirling offense couldn’t function without guys who are willing to sacrifice their own numbers for the success of the group, and Iguodala’s comments illustrate that mentality.

As for the jealously comments? Well, we’ll just leave that for another day.