Kurtenbach: Steph Curry is the NBA’s ultimate showman
Steph Curry's 50-point All-Star Game MVP performance was the perfect
reminder of everything that makes the sport of basketball fun.
>Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry engages with the fans during the
second half of the NBA All-Star basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022,
in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)
>Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry engages with the fans during the
second half of the NBA All-Star basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022,
in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)
By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
PUBLISHED: February 21, 2022 at 4:20 a.m. | UPDATED: February 21, 2022
at 2:07 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/02/21/kurtenbach-steph-curry-is-the-nbas-ultimate-showman/

Steph Curry won another trophy in Cleveland.

Ho-hum.

But he did something even bigger Sunday night on the banks of Lake Erie.

He made the NBA All-Star Game must-see TV.

On a court with the best basketball players on the planet, it was the
little guy who made the exhibition game fun, watchable, memorable.

The game might not have meant anything, and defense was non-existent,
but Curry made 16 three-point shots — 16! — en route to 50 points. It
was the most three-pointers in All-Star Game history — previous record,
nine — and the second-most points. Anthony Davis scored 52 in the 2017
All-Star Game.

[video: Curry breaks 3-pt record 2022 All-Star game...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH2ePndVEKo]

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It was a spellbinding performance. It was the perfect encapsulation of
what makes the sport of basketball fun.

We’ve been blessed here in the Bay to see Curry play with joy on a
near-nightly basis for more than a decade now. Bless him for bringing it
to an event that truly needed the boost.

Between the NBA honoring its top 75 players of all-time — including
Curry — for its diamond anniversary and the game itself, Sunday was an
outstanding show, led by the league’s ultimate showman.

It’s no coincidence that Curry used the word “show” again and again and
again in his countless postgame press conversations.

Curry wants to entertain whether it’s a meaningless regular-season game
or Sunday’s showcase.

And he knows what the fans want.

There’s no debate anymore — the 3-pointer has overtaken the dunk as
basketball’s favorite shot.

Blame Curry.

Before him, such a concept would have been laughable.

But dunk after dunk after dunk happened Sunday and it never really
registered with the crowd.

Curry, on the other hand, had the crowd enraptured. By the time he was
handed the MVP award — his first in eight All-Star Games — the boos that
had greeted him in Cleveland had turned to cheers.

It’s one thing to win over an indifferent crowd. It’s a whole other kind
of show to win over an aggressively and negatively partisan crowd.

But what else can you do when the smallest guy on the court (most of the
time) is shooting from nearly 40 feet and turning around well before the
ball rips through the net?

The 3-point shot has been in the NBA since 1979, but Curry found a new
way to dominate.

Sunday night, those 16 3-pointers averaged just shy of 30 feet per shot.
In all, Curry made 475 feet worth of shots.

The longest home run in baseball — remember that sport? — last season
went 466 feet.

“Steph… this guy is from a different planet,” LeBron James, the most
impressive athlete to ever grace a basketball court and the star of the
new ‘Space Jam,’ said after the game. “To be out there and watch that
kid from Akron, as well, shoot the ball the way he shot it was
unbelievable. It was pretty cool.”

[video: Curry wins 2022 NBA All-Star game Kobe Bryan...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOcbaN8LMo8]

Not to bring a premature end to the All-Star break, but I couldn’t help
wondering if Curry will find himself out of his shooting slump once the
Warriors resume their season Thursday in Portland.

Curry had made 15 3-pointers — combined — in the Warriors’ last four
games before the break. And that included an 8-of-13 performance against
the Clippers.

It would be another welcome change for a team that needs a bit more of
that joy, that one-of-a-kind swagger that Curry provides.

Either way, amid all of his great accomplishments — amid a steady stream
of greatness over the last decade — Curry found yet another way to
astound. In a building that hosted so many of those great moments, he
was able to create another indelible memory out of a moment that could
have been altogether forgettable.

He’s one of one, this Steph Curry.

And I can’t wait to see what kind of shows he’s set to put on for us in
the weeks to come.