Stephen Curry awes Warriors’ first full house with 45 points,
game-winning heroics
The Warriors improved to 2-0 this season on a night when their superstar
seemingly couldn't miss
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – OCT. 21: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry
(30) dribbles past Los Angeles Clippers’ Justise Winslow (20) and Los
Angeles Clippers’ Paul George (13) in the first quarter of their NBA
game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 21,
2021. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – OCT. 21: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry
(30) dribbles past Los Angeles Clippers’ Justise Winslow (20) and Los
Angeles Clippers’ Paul George (13) in the first quarter of their NBA
game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 21,
2021. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
By EVAN WEBECK | ewebeck@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: October 21, 2021 at 9:40 p.m. | UPDATED: October 22, 2021 at
4:52 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/10/21/stephen-curry-awes-warriors-first-full-house-with-45-points-game-winning-heroics/

SAN FRANCISCO — Chase Center has hosted Grammy-winning recording artists
since reopening to full capacity, but none of them put on the show that
Stephen Curry treated a sold-out crowd to in the Warriors’ home opener
Thursday night.

Curry finished with 45 points after connecting on his first 10 attempts
from the field and dropping 25 in the first quarter, yet the Warriors
still needed his fourth-quarter theatrics to prevail over the Clippers,
115-113. Curry nailed a catch-and-shoot jumper with under a minute left
to give Golden State the lead for good.

“Steph Curry was just Steph Curry. There’s never been anybody like him,”
coach Steve Kerr said afterward. “I thought our guys just really stuck
with it. Draymond (Green) and Andre (Iguodala) were amazing defensively.
… After we took the early lead, I just thought they got into us. Their
physicality bothered us, led to a lot of those turnovers.”

Here are some takeaways.

- A perfect quarter, a heroic ending

Curry pumped his fist and let out a roar after the Clippers took their
second timeout with 2:23 left in the first quarter. He had just pulled
up in the lane for his 17th and 18th points of the opening period. He
was just getting started.

>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – OCT. 21: Golden State Warriors’ Andre Iguodala
(9) hi-fives teammate Stephen Curry (30) after making a three-point
basket in the first quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay
Area News Group)

Curry finished the quarter with 25 points, the 35th time in his career
that he’d eclipsed 20 points in a single period, tying his personal best
for a quarter. He finished the game with 45 points on 16-of-25 shooting,
including 8 of 13 from deep, to pair with 10 rebounds.

The performance came on the heels of a 5-of-21 shooting night Tuesday in
the season opener. (By the way, he’d like to amend his viral assessment
of his play. He didn’t play like trash. He shot like trash.)

“I’m never worried about my shot,” Curry said. “Ever.”

His biggest shots came in the fourth quarter.

He scored eight of the Warriors’ final 10 points and 10 of their final 14.

Trailing by 2 with about 2 minutes to go, Curry took the ball just
beneath the 75th anniversary logo at halfcourt. He looked at Marcus
Morris, then at the hoop. He didn’t dribble. He launched. Morris, well
over an arm’s length away, couldn’t do anything about it. Thirty feet
away, the ball swished through the net.

“In those situations, you don’t really think about where you are. You
think about where the defense is and how much space you have,” Curry
said. “No indecision.”

Trailing by 1 with about 1 minute left, Curry sprinted the ball up the
floor and flung it toward Damion Lee. Then he did what Curry does — run.
Lee head faked and passed it back. Curry shook two defenders and let it
rip. It swirled this time.

“It’s Stephen Curry, so when he has it going, you’re trying to find
him,” Lee said. “Read and react.”

“It’s a read and react situation,” Curry said, then smiled. “But I was
also a little thirsty. … I knew exactly what I was trying to do. I’m
glad he saw it.”

His 45 points were the fifth-most by a Warriors player in a home opener.
He’d outdone his opening night performance in Los Angeles (21 points;
5-of-21 shooting) by the end of the first quarter.

But more impressive than the scoring total was how he got them.

Curry didn’t miss a shot until 4:55 left in the second quarter, a heat
check from 28 feet that clanked off the rim. He connected on his first
10 shots, including five from beyond the arc.

Everything was going right for the Warriors.

Curry couldn’t miss, and few of his teammates were, either.

But around the time of Curry’s first misfire, the tides began to change.
Golden State only scored one more basket the rest of the half and
watched a double-digit advantage evaporate.

The Warriors hung on by tightening up on defense and with a little help
from their star.

Of Curry’s 45 points, only 10 came between the end of the first quarter
and the final 4 minutes of regulation.

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- Big Wiggs

Andrew Wiggins was the first to eschew his poor shooting through the
preseason.

The former No. 1 overall pick insisted he’d find his rhythm once the
games began to count, and he wasn’t wrong. Wiggins finished with 17
points in 30 minutes Thursday and took on the tough assignment of
guarding Clippers star Paul George, following up a quiet-but-efficient
opening night performance.

“I wasn’t really too worried about preseason,” Wiggins said. “It’s just
a natural progression, playing more of a team, playing more real games.”

A sore knee sidelined him for part of the preseason. He finished the
exhibition slate having made only 4 of his 18 3-point attempts.

Those struggles have vanished through his first two regular-season contests.

Wiggins needed less than 4 minutes to enter double figures Thursday
night after connecting on his first three attempts from downtown. In the
season opener Tuesday, Wiggins quietly contributed 12 points on 5-of-10
shooting from the field.

He scored 9 of Golden State’s first 12 points Thursday.

Then Curry took over.

- Where’s the D?

The Warriors built a lead as large as 19 points but let it slip away
entirely by intermission, as Paul George nearly matched Curry’s
magnificence.

The Clippers superstar needed only 12 shots to drop 22 points in the
first half — while Curry was limited to 3 more before half after his
25-point first quarter — but the Warriors limited him to six points in
the second half.

“I thought they were the more physical team most of the night,” Kerr
said. “But I thought that fourth-quarter stretch was the key to the
game. … (Green) and Wiggs really did a great job on Paul after he got to
us in the first.”

While Golden State shot 61.5% (24-of-39) from the field in the first
half, Los Angeles went 25-of-45 (55.6%).

Things cooled down in the second half, though.

Despite barely being able to miss, the Warriors still entered the final
period still in need of a minor comeback effort.

Justise Winslow broke through the backdoor for layup that put Golden
State in a 98-90 hole with 10:36 to play.

The Warriors didn’t allow another basket for 6 minutes and mounted a
12-0 run to retake the lead.

The Warriors forced an average of 13.4 steals per game in the preseason
and swiped the ball from the Lakers nine times in their season opener
but were only able to get their hands on five steals Thursday night.

Golden State turned the ball over 21 times and only forced seven giveaways.

After allowing the Lakers to shoot 47% from the field, the Warriors
followed it up by allowing the Clippers to connect on 44% of their
attempts. In the second half, that number was 34% (17 for 50).

The D showed up when it counted, as Wiggins and Green trapped George in
the corner with under 30 seconds to play and forced a brick that sealed
the win.

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- And 1

-With six points, Nemanja Bjelica reached 3,000 in his career.
-Damion Lee celebrated his 29th birthday Thursday. After attending a J
Cole concert the night prior, he dropped 11 points off the bench,
including consecutive corner 3s that put Golden State up 102-98 with
less than 5 minutes to play.
-The Warriors welcomed their 378th straight sellout crowd. It had been
590 days since their last regular-season game at full capacity, March
10, 2020.
-Golden State became the second team in NBA history to begin its season
by defeating both Los Angeles teams. The 2000 Utah Jazz were the only
other team to accomplish the somewhat obscure feat, according to the
Elias Sports Bureau.

Allen wrote:
> Stephen Curry awes Warriors’ first full house with 45 points,
> game-winning heroics
> The Warriors improved to 2-0 this season on a night when their superstar
> seemingly couldn't miss

> By EVAN WEBECK | ewebeck@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
> PUBLISHED: October 21, 2021 at 9:40 p.m. | UPDATED: October 22, 2021 at
> 4:52 a.m.
> https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/10/21/stephen-curry-awes-warriors-first-full-house-with-45-points-game-winning-heroics/
>
>
>
> SAN FRANCISCO — Chase Center has hosted Grammy-winning recording artists
> since reopening to full capacity, but none of them put on the show that
> Stephen Curry treated a sold-out crowd to in the Warriors’ home opener
> Thursday night.
>
> Curry finished with 45 points after connecting on his first 10 attempts
> from the field and dropping 25 in the first quarter, yet the Warriors
> still needed his fourth-quarter theatrics to prevail over the Clippers,
> 115-113. Curry nailed a catch-and-shoot jumper with under a minute left
> to give Golden State the lead for good.
>

Curry really is one of the most amazing athletes in pro sports today.

--Robin