Perhaps only Stephen Curry could describe his basket as the first half was ending on Thursday as a “rhythm shot.”
Who else but the most accomplished outside shooter in history could be in rhythm when he is about 12m away and not even facing the basket?
Curry threw in the turnaround heave from with 0.3 seconds left in the second quarter en route to scoring 40 points in the Golden State Warrior’s 121-119 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, then just started running directly to the locker room so he could try to hide his surprise that it went in.
Photo: AFP
Those who have watched him for all these years were not surprised at all.
“Most people can make that shot luckily,” Draymond Green said. “We all knew that shot was going in. That’s a different thing.”
Curry already made one from just beyond halfcourt to end the first half on this road trip, when he scored 56 points on Thursday last week against the Orlando Magic in the opener of it.
Photo: AP
This one was closer, but seemingly more difficult.
He was standing with his feet inside the Nets’ logo that extends over both sides of the center court line when he took a pass from Jimmy Butler. Curry simply spun and fired a turnaround jumper, giving Butler about as unlikely an assist as he will ever get.
“That one, that’s not in the practice routine, but you have an idea of where you are on the court and as weird as it might sound, it’s kind of a rhythm shot because you don’t have any other thought than just to try to get it off, but it did surprise me, though,” Curry said. “That’s why I just ran to the locker room.”
The fans in the announced crowd of 18,413, the largest to see a Nets game at Barclays Center, were screaming as Curry ran off. They already had been for most of the second quarter, when he made three three-pointers to get the Warriors almost back to even after Brooklyn ran out to a 27-5 lead.
“When we were out there on the court, I was thinking to myself the NBA is lucky, because this man is going into every arena and putting on a show,” Green said. “Sounds like it’s a home game every time he does it.”
Elsewhere on Thursday, it was:
‧ Lakers 113, Knicks 109
‧ Magic 123, Bulls 125
‧ Pelicans 97, Rockets 109
‧ Hawks 124, Pacers 118
‧ Celtics 123, 76ers 105
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Taiwanese FORTUNES: Wu Fang-hsien and Hsieh Su-wei both advanced to the last 16 of the women’s doubles, but Ray Ho was ousted in the men’s doubles Carlos Alcaraz yesterday stepped up his quest to win a maiden Australian Open as he overwhelmed showman Corentin Moutet to reach the last 16, while Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Hsieh Su-wei both advanced to the last 16 of the women’s doubles. Three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev battled through on day six at a warm and sunny Melbourne Park, as did Coco Gauff. Top seed Alcaraz was never in danger against French 32nd seed Moutet, easing through 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena in 2 hours, 5 minutes. It was the Spaniard’s 100th Grand Slam match and he boasts a remarkable 87-13 win-loss record,
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