Steph brings out the best in sports
This was sport at its best, a record, respect, appreciation, sharing. It was perfect timing in an imperfect world.
This was as good as it gets on the night Steph Curry got a place in history, along with an outpouring of praise from those who perhaps best understand what he has accomplished: others who play basketball at the highest level.
Tweets from so many, including LeBron James.
Curry literally was moved to tears as he considered what he had achieved, even though breaking the NBA record for career 3-point baskets had reached the point of inevitability.
He knew he was going to do it. We knew he was going to do it. He did it Tuesday night on arguably the game’s grandest stage, Madison Square Garden in New York City.
If you can make it there, the lyrics tell us, you can make it anywhere.
What Curry made at the 7:33 mark of the first quarter of the Warriors 105-96 win over the Knicks was the 3-pointer that would surpass Ray Allen’s mark of 2,973.
Before the game ended, among his total 22 points, Curry would make three more 3s, adding to a number that will grow as long as Steph keeps playing and shooting — and the contract for the 33-year-old lasts another three and a half seasons.
“I hope to push the record a long way,” said Curry.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr, an excellent long-range gunner long ago, admiring the post-game celebrations, again reminded how much Steph had affected basketball.
“There were 82 3-pointers taken (Tuesday),” Kerr said. “So, on a night when he broke the record, the sum of both teams’ 3-point attempts was kind of a testament to Steph’s impact on the league.
“It’s a different game now, obviously. But Steph made it a different game.”
After Reggie Miller, who was broadcasting the game for TBS, and Allen, who was in the building, made their contributions, Reggie holding the record until Allen grabbed it.
The two were thrilled to be part of an evening that in a way was as much theirs as Steph’s.
“Reggie came up to Boston to cheer me on,” said Allen, who was with the Celtics. “As Steph got closer to the record, I told myself I had to find a way to be there.”
So he was, along with Curry’s parents — his father, Dell, played in the NBA — a few coaches and friends, and a Garden crowd of 19,000, some of which paid prices inflated by the importance of the event.
“When I came in the league,” said Curry, as a matter of fact and not pretension, ”I watched things like this happening. Now 11 years later, I’m the one.”
Indeed, the one who has brought attention to the Bay Area as well as himself. In an activity too full of bitterness and criticism, egotism unfettered, Curry seems universally loved.
He plays basketball beautifully and joyfully. As well as successfully.
“He’s great at the one skill every player wants to be great at,” Tim Legler, a very competent shooter himself, said on ESPN. “Steph has redefined shooting. The things he does to get open are incredibly difficult. He makes it look easy.”
Although Kerr thought he had prepared himself for the basket that would make Steph the record holder, he was awed by the reaction after it took place.
“The moment was spectacular,” Kerr said. “The aftermath was more emotional than I expected it to be. It was just an outpouring of love and appreciation for Steph from seemingly everyone in the building. Beautiful, beautiful.“
As are the gifts that ESPN reported Curry gave long-time teammates Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala for their support — Rolex watches.
Time pieces from a man whose play is timeless.