Stephen Curry: 74 wins isn’t really a goal, it’s winning crown

It’s still over a month before the NBA regular season starts, but reigning NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Stephen Curry is already managing some lofty assumptions from fans.

Since the arrival of another former MVP Kevin Durant to the Bay Area, expectations have never been higher for last year’s runners-up, who eclipsed the 1996 Chicago Bulls’ record for most wins in the NBA regular season, by winning an unprecedented 73 games.

The 28-year-old sharpshooter, however, clarified that the Dubs are not really aiming to break their own single-season record, and are simply focused on winning another championship.

“74 (wins) isn’t really a goal. If it happens, it happens. All of our energy will be spent on getting ourselves ready for a championship run,” Curry said in a video posted on the Warrior’s official Twitter page on Tuesday.

“We want to have a great regular season obviously, we don’t want to have any slip-ups, but I don’t think coming into the season with the goal of 74 is a good focus. It’s about winning a championship,” he added.

The three-time All Star also addressed the team’s roster changes, after parting ways with core players Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes, as well as bench players Leandro Barbosa and Mo Speights, to accommodate Durant’s signing. The team, however, managed to sign veteran big men Zaza Pachulia and David West on cheap deals.

“I think we’ve added some great character guys that will fit right into our identity and who we are as a team, and there’s only one goal this year: obviously to win a championship, so whatever it takes to make that happen, I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” he said.

The Golden State Warriors will open the 2016-2017 season at home against the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 25.  Khristian Ibarrola

  
@StephenCurry30 took some time out of his ongoing Tour of Asia to speak with the media about the upcoming season… pic.twitter.com/MRrPhocgjd
 
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) September 5, 2016

source: sports.inquirer.net

NBA: Frustrated Curry, Warriors on brink of biggest choke

Unanimous NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry is feeling the frustration of the Golden State Warriors’ collapse to the brink of the biggest choke in NBA Finals history.

The record-setting 3-point shooter and NBA scoring champion was fined $25,000 Friday by the league for hurling his mouthguard into the crowd after fouling out of Thursday’s 115-101 loss at Cleveland, which left the best-of-seven series deadlocked at 3-3.

“It was obviously frustrating fouling out in the fourth quarter of a clinching game and not being out there with my teammates,” Curry said. “So it got the best of me, but I’ll be all right for next game.”

Sunday’s game seven at Oakland will decide if Curry and the Warriors, who won a record 73 of 82 regular-season games, defend their crown or become the first players in 70 NBA Finals to squander a 3-1 series lead and let the title slip away.

“Nothing about our playoff run has been perfect,” Curry said, citing a 3-1 deficit to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference final. “We were in adversity the last series and had to rattle off three straight wins so things haven’t gone our way despite how the regular season went.

“So, yeah, it’s frustrating, but the work we’ve put in and the opportunity we’ve given ourselves, you’ve got to be excited about that.”

Outbursts prove costly

Warriors coach Steve Kerr also was fined $25,000 for complaining about officiating, defending Curry’s contention that referees were wrong about the last calls that resulted in Curry fouling out for the first time since 2013 and receiving a first-ever ejection.

“I didn’t think I fouled,” Curry said. “That’s just kind of my perception of the plays and I had a reaction to it. I had some stuff I wanted to get off my chest after the way the game went.”

Kerr described the foul calls as “ridiculous” and said officials were fooled by flops, adding, “I’m happy he threw his mouthpiece. He should be upset… three of the six fouls were incredibly inappropriate calls for anybody, much less the MVP of the league.”

In his anger, Curry hurled the mouthpiece into the son of a part-owner of the Cavaliers who was sitting in the front row.

“I definitely didn’t mean to throw it at a fan, but it happened,” Curry said. “I went over and apologized to him because that’s obviously not where I was trying to take my frustration out.”

It’s such lack of discipline that has the Warriors in the mess they find themselves. Draymond Green swung has hand into the groin of Cleveland star LeBron James in game four and was banned from game five for accumulated flagrant fouls, his absence helping Cleveland win and being compounded when Australian center Andrew Bogut suffered a left knee injury that ended his season.

Green had to be restrained by Kerr as he argued a foul call late in game six, his anger and yelling risky given the chance of an incident that could have brought a game seven ban.

“It wasn’t an ideal situation to not have him out there and hopefully he’s not put in that situation again where he’s putting his playing status in jeopardy,” Curry said.

Racial profiling and plots?
Curry can’t even escape the tensions of the finals at home. His wife, Ayesha, tweeted her husband’s ejection was part of a plot to “rig” the outcome to force a game seven “for money or ratings.” She later deleted the message, saying it was a “heat of the moment” missive.

There’s no doubt the drama of the NBA’s two biggest stars, Curry and James, and the thrill of a record-setting comeback or a repeat champion has captivated US sports fans at a profitable pace for telecasters. Some 20.7 million people watched game six in America, 6.5 percent of the population, and TV ratings are the second-best in finals history.

Curry’s father-in-law was nearly arrested ahead of game six in what Ayesha Curry called a case of racial profiling. She said he was detained because in the mistaken belief he was a con artist thought to be trying to attend the game with phony credentials.

“Police racial profiled my father and told him to remove credentials and tried to arrest him. It’s been a long night for me. I apologize,” she tweeted.

“I’m okay we lost… I just can’t take people coming at my family for absolutely no reason. Something I don’t understand or stand for.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

WATCH: Curry accepts 2nd NBA MVP trophy in front of Warrior fans

Golden State superstar Stephen Curry, NBA’s first-ever unanimous MVP winner, accepted his second MVP in front of the Warrior fans at Oracle Arena ahead of game five of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Warriors moved on to the WCF Finals after ousting the Portland Trailblazers in five games.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Durant’s mother, the ‘Real MVP,’ subject of Lifetime movie

OKLAHOMA CITY — With a single sentence uttered by her world-famous son Kevin Durant, Wanda Pratt’s life changed forever.

“You the real MVP.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder star said those now-famous words during his emotional acceptance speech for the 2014 NBA MVP award before Mother’s Day. Pratt became the central figure of one of the most memorable speeches in sports history.

“Of course, I knew he that would mention me in the speech, or I believed he would mention me in the speech,” Pratt said during an interview with The Associated Press. “But I didn’t expect it to be to that magnitude, so I was quite caught off guard.”

During the speech, Durant recalled some of Pratt’s sacrifices for him and his brother, Tony, as they grew up in the Washington D.C. area. He described how the young single mother gave them hope, kept them out of trouble and sometimes went without food to make sure her boys were fed.

Interest in Pratt’s story has remained high, and now she’s the subject of a movie of a Lifetime original movie called, “The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story,” which will premiere Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern.

“I don’t think anyone really thinks a movie will be made about their life,” Pratt said. “That is something that is really uncommon, and I am blessed to be a person who gets a story made about them.”

Queen Latifah is executive producer for the movie, and Cassandra Freeman stars as Pratt. The movie focuses on how Pratt struggled to make ends meet for her children and persevered with the help of family and carefully chosen friends. Her efforts paid off when Tony graduated from college and Kevin made it to the NBA.

“It’s a blueprint,” Durant said. “We didn’t have a lot, but we knew how to stick together and work hard. Anything can happen.”

Pratt said Durant’s famous humility is rooted in his early life experiences. She said Durant always has been generous, even when the family didn’t have much.

“One of the things I have always taught my son is that we are blessed,” she said. “Even though we didn’t have a lot of things, we are blessed.”

Even though Durant now is one of the wealthiest athletes in the world and towers over Pratt at nearly 7-foot tall, she is still mom. And she still delivers tough love.

“Always know your responsibility as the parent,” she said. “Always hold that dear. Never lose that. No matter how old they are, no matter how much they’re doing in their lives, you are always going to be the parent.”

Pratt’s fame has given her a chance to fulfill her mission in life __ to help pregnant teenage girls, teenage mothers and single mothers.

“I help them from my life experiences,” she said. “Being my son’s mother has afforded me the opportunity and the platform for my experiences to be heard and to bring inspiration and hope to those who would look at me because of my son’s success.”

Pratt hopes her story inspires not just the mothers, but entire families, too.

“The message for the story is hope,” she said. “No matter what you go through in life, no matter what the obstacles are __ because we all face obstacles and struggles __ it’s not so much about the details of the story, it’s just that through the highs and lows and ebbs and flows, you have to continue to push forward, because there is a brighter day.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Toughest challenge yet as Warriors survive Celtics in 2OT for 24-0

BOSTON — The Golden State Warriors needed two overtimes to remain perfect on a very imperfect night from the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player.

Stephen Curry scored 38 points despite his worst shooting performance of the season, adding 11 rebounds and eight assists on Friday night as the Warriors improved to 24-0 by outlasting the Boston Celtics 124-119 in double overtime.

“Exhausting, but it was fun,” Curry said. “Obviously, it was nice to get the win. But we had to claw our way to it.”

Counting the wins in their final four games last season, the defending NBA champions have taken 28 regular-season games in a row. That broke a tie with the 2012-13 Miami Heat for the second-longest winning streak in league history, and now trails only the 33 straight by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1971-72.

The Warriors play the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night to complete a seven-game road trip. No NBA team has ever gone 7-0 on a single road trip.

“We will definitely cherish this, because it doesn’t happen often,” center Andrew Bogut said. “The record, the history, the team – it doesn’t happen often so we will cherish it. Who knows? Next year you could be on a different team and nobody’s talking about you.”

Curry made only 9 of 27 shots from the field, a .333 shooting percentage that was his worst since Game 2 of the NBA finals against Cleveland. But he was 6 for 13 from 3-point range and a perfect 14 of 14 from the free throw line.

“He can score in so many different ways,” interim coach Luke Walton said. “They did a phenomenal job on him and he scored 38. But that’s how superstars are in this league.”

The Celtics had two chances to win it at the end of regulation, tied 103-all, but Shaun Livingston blocked Isaiah Thomas’ attempt. After Golden State’s try at an alley-oop off the inbounds pass failed, Boston had the ball with 0.7 seconds left, but Kelly Olynyk’s off-balance jumper was wide.

Curry sank a pair of foul shots – his only points of the second overtime – with 13.4 seconds left to give the Warriors a three-point lead. Jae Crowder then missed a 3-pointer to tie it, and Andre Iguodala got the rebound and drew the foul.

That sent the Boston fans to the exits, but the Golden State crowd remained to see Iguodala sink both free throws and keep the winning streak alive.

“They’re the champs. They did what they’re supposed to do,” said Celtics swingman Evan Turner. “Curry, you know, he still made it work.”

Olynyk scored 28 points for Boston, and Avery Bradley had 19 while guarding Curry much of the night. Thomas had 18 points and 10 assists, and Jared Sullinger had 13 rebounds for Boston, which had won two in a row and six of its previous eight games.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens was asked if there was such a thing as a “great loss.”

“No,” he said. “Not even a good one.”

Draymond Green scored 24 points with 11 rebounds, eight assists and five blocked shots. Iguodala scored 13 with 10 boards and Festus Ezeli had 12 and 12 for Golden State, which was playing without injured Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes.

The game brought a playoff mood and a sold-out crowd to the new Boston Garden, but this time the loyalties were more divided than usual. Although the Celtics’ green still dominated, there was plenty of Golden State blue as well.

Fans crowded around the Golden State end of the court during warmups to watch the defending NBA champions and their star. During introductions, the Celtics rooters struggled to drown out the cheers for Curry.

“That’s every night for us,” Bogut said. “It’s always a playoff atmosphere because they all want to beat us.”

After the game, Golden State fans remained long after the final buzzer, cheering Curry when he went to the locker room after his postgame, on-court TV interview.

“Now I can admit I’m tired,” Curry said. “We’ll dig deep for tomorrow.”

source:  sports.inquirer.net

With Rose blooming, Bulls open season with emphatic win

NEW YORK — The Chicago Bulls welcomed former NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose back from injury Wednesday with a convincing 104-80 win over the New York Knicks.

The return of Rose and the addition of Spanish veteran Pau Gasol have branded the Bulls as Eastern Conference contenders in 2014-15, and they looked the part at Madison Square Garden.

“I wouldn’t say my rust is knocked off, but it’s getting there,” said Rose, who missed the final 71 games of last season with a torn meniscus after missing all of the previous campaign recovering from a torn knee ligament.

“I can’t be content with how I’m performing,” he added. “I have to put it behind me whether it’s good or bad and make sure I stay consistent with my workouts. Physically, I feel good.”

Both Rose and Gasol made key contributions. Rose — the 2011 NBA MVP — scored 13 points with five assists in his long awaited regular-season return and off-season acquisition Gasol putting up 21 points with 11 rebounds.

Taj Gibson scored 22 points in 28 minutes off the bench for the Bulls, who connected on better than 50 percent of their shots from the field and effectively smothered the Knicks offense.

In all the Bulls received 55 points from their reserves, with Aaron Brooks netting 13 and 2014 first-round draft pick Doug McDermott scoring 12 in his NBA debut.

For New York, it was a disappointing start to the head coaching tenure of Derek Fisher, the former player drafted to implement the Phil Jackson triangle offense.

Carmelo Anthony was held to 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting and the Knicks finished a lackluster 3-for-17 from three-point range.

Amare Stoudemire was New York’s only other player to score in double figures, with 12 points to go with his eight rebounds.

Rose acknowledged he was eager to get back on an NBA court for the first time since surgery last November, but said he wasn’t harboring any unrealistic expectations for himself.

“It’s still going to take some time,” he said. “I’m not worried about that. I might have some bad games here and there. But that’s not going to stop me from trying to be aggressive.”

Heat sizzle without James

The second night of the season saw Miami open their post-LeBron James era with a bang as Chris Bosh scored 26 points and 15 rebounds in the Heat’s 107-95 victory over Washington.

Bosh, who saw his numbers dwindle in each of the four seasons that superstar James played for the Heat, inked a five-year $118 million deal in the offseason to stay in Miami, while James opted to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers in his home state of Ohio.

Turns out the Heat, who won two titles in four trips to the NBA finals in James’ four years in Miami, didn’t need “King James” to put on a show.

Dwyane Wade scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter while Norris Cole added 23 and off-season acquisition Luol Deng of Britain scored 12 in his Miami debut.

James, meanwhile, will launch his second stint in Cleveland on Thursday, when the Cavaliers open their season hosting the Knicks.

source: sports.inquirer.net