How Warriors' Steph Curry navigates highs and lows of his Draymond Green bond originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

There have been a few times since 2012 when Draymond Green’s occasionally rambunctious conduct tested the limits of everyone within the Warriors’ orbit, including the team’s prince of patience and prudence, Stephen Curry.

Never for a moment, though, has Curry considered endorsing a Green-Warriors divorce.

“I don’t ever get into that narrative because he’s had some situations where people want to criticize and jump in,” said Curry, appearing on NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dubs Talk podcast, which debuted Monday. “And he’s obviously taken a lot of responsibility for things that have happened over the years.

“But when it comes to seeing somebody for who they truly are and what they bring to the table, there’s no better example of a friendship and a teammate relationship that can stand the test of time. Because there’s just trust at the end of the day. I know he’s going to show up with the right mentality and do it his way and over the course of a season. I can rely on that.”

Now in their 14th season as teammates – longest active duration in the NBA – Curry-Green is a ride-or-die relationship. It goes back to Green’s rookie season, when he proved capable of helping the Warriors in ways no one else could. They bonded off the court, too. When Curry, a devoted Carolina Panthers fan, mentioned in 2015 that he and his family were flying to Seattle to see them face the Seahawks, he was reminded of their notoriously boisterous fans.

Curry’s response: Draymond’s coming with me. And, naturally, when things got rowdy at the stadium, Green relished playing the role of bodyguard. That provided Curry with a glimpse of Green’s commitment to those closest to him. He understood it because he’s no different in that regard. They’re both born under the Pisces astrological sign and their loyalty is reciprocal.

At the heart of their relationship is the pursuit of victory. They’re outstanding individual players, with Curry as Golden State’s offensive engine and Green playing the same role for the defense. Their two-man activity on offense is sublime, as it should be after 771 games together. Each man’s game is enriched by the other.

“I’ve said it since his first game, pretty much in terms of him being a guy that could influence the game no matter what the stat sheet says,” Curry said. “And he’s lived up to that and beyond his entire career, and as a true winner.

“But there are times where I need him to lift me up emotionally, because you know I might not have it in the tank. And I need to kind of cool him off if he’s running too hot at times, and vice versa.”

It’s Draymond’s emotions that at times rub people the wrong way and also diminish the effectiveness of the Warriors. Between technical fouls and other small fines, he has turned over nearly $1 million to the NBA, according to Spotrac. He has been suspended six times over a seven-year (2016-2023) span, losing more than $3 million in salary.

The most sensational moment of Green’s unwelcome conduct came in October 2022 when he slugged then-teammate Jordan Poole in the face during a training-camp practice. Some within the organization pondered whether Draymond still was good for the franchise.

Curry was among the many who were disappointed with the needless violence, but he stood by his longtime teammate.

“His highs and his lows are a little bit (louder) than most,” Curry said. “When you’re teammates and friends and been together with somebody for that long . . . he’s seen my highs and my lows, too, and whether that’s in front of the camera on the court, or behind the scenes in the locker room, or whatever. We’ve both had those moments where we can kind of lift each other up.”

It is that rarely publicized side of Green that Curry appreciates most. The world knows of Draymond’s blowups, but Curry and others close to him know of the kind, giving individual who grew up in rugged Saginaw, Mich., and understands the value of being there for others, particularly those in need.

Which is an attribute shared by Green and Curry, who as the son of NBA star Dell Curry, grew up under very different circumstances.

“That’s the stuff that you learn over the course of getting to know somebody from Day 1,” Curry said. “Seeing him as a husband, as a father, as a friend, the idea of how he shows up for people. He’s taught me a lot as well just in the consideration of trying to meet people where they are. As wound up as he is, he has a very empathetic side to him that not many people get to see.

“He’s fiery, and he keeps you on edge all the time. And that’s kind of what you need. But the other side of him, Pisces gang. He’s a feeler too. Don’t let him get it twisted.”

Curry has seen dozens of teammates come and go since 2009, when he was drafted by the Warriors. Green came and has stayed. The result has been six trips to the NBA Finals, with four ending with a championship. These achievements don’t happen without Steph – or Draymond. “Oh, zero,” Curry said when asked how many titles the Warriors might have won without Green. “Zero. Zero. “And the idea is, hopefully, there’s one more in the tank.

“And he would say the same thing about me. He’d say the same thing about Klay (Thompson), or Andre (Iguodala) or (Kevin Durant). It goes back to the fact that when it’s all said and done, we’ll be able to go back to those specific moments.”

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With Steph Curry out and Jimmy Butler aching, here come Thunder to face Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – After sitting for about 20 minutes, Jimmy Butler III rises from his chair moving one limb at a time. His discomfort is evident. Asked how he’s feeling, he eschews athlete-speak and responds with typical candor.

“You see how I’m walking,” he said with a sigh, left hand resting on his left hip and as he shuffles carefully out of the room.

Three hours later, Butler’s name appeared on the Monday afternoon NBA injury report submitted by the Warriors in advance of their game Tuesday against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder at Chase Center.

Two days removed from landing hard on his backside late in the Warriors’ 104-96 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Butler was listed as “questionable” with a left gluteal contusion. In simpler terms, an aching ass.

Add this to the first unwelcome blow to the Warriors last week. Stephen Curry sustained a left quad contusion last Wednesday and is expected to miss at least two more games, the next being OKC on Tuesday.

And to think, the Warriors had hoped to use their five-game homestand to generate enough momentum to escape mediocrity. They split the first four games and now must take down the mighty Thunder (20-1 record) to achieve a winning homestand.

And now, Butler’s availability is in question. He is Golden State’s No. 2 scorer, behind Curry, averaging 20.2 points per game. His role in the offense expands when Curry is not available. He was superb Saturday against the New Orleans Pelicans, producing a team-high 24 points, a game-high 10 assists, grabbing eight rebounds and finishing a game-best plus-22 over 37 minutes.

“He didn’t practice today,” coach Steve Kerr said of Butler. “He feels like he’ll be able to play [Tuesday], but he was pretty sore from that spill he took.”

The Warriors made it through the first month of the season without significant injuries to their four veterans – Curry’s three-game absence to due to an illness was the worst of it – only to come home 10 days ago have each of them afflicted. In addition to Curry and Butler, Draymond Green (listed as “probable”) is trying to play through a sprained right foot, and Al Horford (listed as “out”) is coping with sciatic nerve irritation.

As much as we might like to consider the game on Tuesday as some kind of in-season exam on the status of the Warriors, this now looks more like a test of will. OKC is missing three rotation players – Alex Caruso, Lu Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein – but that’s been the case most of the season and it has not mattered.

When Curry took that knee to the quad against the Houston Rockets last week, he immediately knew he would miss some time. The proof was in the look on his face, one of deep disappointment and barely submerged fury. The Warriors had led most of the game but were clinging to an 89-88 lead inside the final five minutes. He knew what the moment meant, so he tried to limp his way to the finish line.

Curry didn’t quite make it, and the Warriors were outscored 16-11 over the final 4:19.

Like Curry, Butler knows what the moment means. The Warriors haven’t been more than three games over .500 all season, and this homestand was an opportunity. Instead, it’s been a loss, a win, a loss and another win. Which has their record at 11-10.

Reinforcements are coming. Seth Curry signed on Monday and will be active Tuesday night. De’Anthony Melton is expected to be available sometime on the road trip that begins Thursday in Philadelphia. They will help, eventually. Melton may find his way back into the starting lineup.

“We’ll see how much time it takes, but we’re excited to get him back,” Kerr said of Melton. “He’s a two-way player, he’s really good fundamentally in terms of taking care of the ball and decision-making. I say it all the time it’s a decision-making sport, and De’Anthony is a guy who makes really good decisions at both ends.”

But Golden State’s pursuit of a stretch of games when it flashes the top end of its potential continues to be elusive. And it’s impossible when Curry is in street clothes.

Knowing that, Butler’s thirst for victory may send him onto the floor against the Thunder. If he strolls out for the opening tip at 8 o’clock, he surely will be compromised.

I saw how he was walking.

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Are Steph Curry, Klay Thompson best NBA backcourt ever? Warriors star sees case originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Aside from the Boston Celtics building the most remarkable dynasty ever, the history of the NBA is light on absolutes. From greatest player to greatest at each position to greatest coach, opinions tend to vary. And forever will.

One claim, however, that can stake a reasonable case for being above debate is that Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, during their 666 games as teammates on the Warriors, represented the best, and most enduring, guard duo ever.

“You let everybody have their opinions on that,” Curry said in an appearance on the NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dubs Talk podcast, which debuted Monday. “It is kind of crazy to think that it’s not inconceivable, or you won’t be yelled at, if you’re standing on that hill.”

It’s a sturdy hill that began forming in 2012-13, their first full season as starters with Golden State. After becoming the first teammates to make more than 200 3-pointers in the regular season, they made 67, on 40.6-percent shooting, as the No. 6 seed Warriors upset the third-seeded Denver Nuggets in six games before pushing the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs to six games.

One year later, the Warriors gave birth to a dynasty.

Curry and Thompson are the only backcourt duo to reach five consecutive NBA Finals. The Celtics of three generations ago went to 10 consecutive Finals but had a rotating cast of starters in the backcourt, with Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, Tom “Satch” Sanders and Larry Siegfried, among others.

Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant never reached the NBA Finals in four consecutive seasons, and their backcourt partners are, to be frank, relegated to trivia. Magic Johnson made it to four in a row, two with Norm Nixon and two with Byron Scott – neither of whom will join Magic in the Hall of Fame.

The above players made an impact on the game – Magic, Michael and Kobe in particular – but none altered the basketball landscape to the degree the “Splash Brothers” did. Curry is the all-time leader in 3-pointers and, by consensus, the king of the 3-pointer. Yet Thompson holds the record for most in a game, draining 14 in 27 searing minutes in 2018. All five of Curry’s assists went to Klay, including the one that tied Steph’s single-game record of 13.

“My coach at Davidson, Bob McKillop, used to say if you help somebody, you help yourself,” Curry said. “And that’s not like a selfish ambition. That’s an approach to the game. And that night was exactly what it’s supposed to be.

“I did make it harder myself if I want to come back and try to now make 15 3s in a game to have that record. But I’m glad that it’s his right now.”

With Curry being the family man and Thompson a confirmed bachelor, they led very different lives off the court. It was their competitive zeal and shared desire for excellence that was perhaps the strongest bond between them. There were times when it seemed they competed to see who would be the last to leave the practice court.

It paid off for the Warriors, who, behind the Curry-Thompson backcourt, appeared in six Finals, winning four. 

It also paid off for Curry and Thompson individually, with them going to five consecutive All-Star games – a feat no modern-era backcourt has achieved. (Cousy and Sharman went to eight in straight from 1953-60).

“Two guys that played hard, were irrationally confident with our jumpers and we kind of thrived off each other in terms of when one got going, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, when is my turn?’” Curry said. “It was like we’d start to feel the heat and the energy of the arena, the ball and whatever the flow of the game is.

“Klay was such an asset for me on the court, because he usually guarded the best perimeter guy on the other team. He took that responsibility and loved it. He was selfless about it. You know he wanted to score, but he knew he could help us on that end of the floor.

“And then for me, like using gravity, trying to get him easy shots on the other side. You’ve got to kind of pick your poison. Who you’re going to leave open? That’s why it worked.”

Curry’s acknowledgment of Thompson’s defense is one of the persuasive elements in the duo receiving GOAT status. Klay, standing 6-foot-6, with a 6-foot-9 wingspan, was the primary defender not only on smallish point guards like Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard and Chris Paul but also bigger guards, such as DeMar DeRozan and James Harden.

Yet it is the 3-point deep shooting of Curry and Thompson that stands as the first of several arguments on their behalf. Curry ranks No. 1 on the career list with 4,133, while Thompson, who missed two full seasons, is fifth at 2,754. Former Warriors coach Mark Jackson, in 2013, was the first to anoint them as the “best shooting backcourt in the history of the game.

Twelve years later, there is no debate.

“I’m pretty sure we got that one,” Curry said. “But in terms of backcourt in general, there’s obviously a lot of competition there. Who knows how these debates get solved and settled?

“But it’s the idea that because of our accomplishments as a team and what me and Klay did for such a long time at the 1 and the 2 spots, and how we did it, and the way people remember those moments in that run. You walk into any barber shop, any gym, any men’s league or whatever, and they start bringing that conversation up, you won’t be the only one in the room (with that opinion).”

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The Lakers’ seven-game winning streak came to a crashing halt with a 125-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Monday at Crypto.com Arena.

While Luka Doncic continued his scoring surge with 38 points and 11 rebounds, the loss laid bare the Lakers’ biggest problems. The Lakers (15-5) turned the ball over 21 times, which led to 32 points for the Suns. The team’s middle-of-the-road defense had no answer for Phoenix’s dizzying offense that shot 57% from the field. LeBron James, who sat out Sunday to manage a left foot injury at the start of the Lakers' home back-to-back, faded into the background most of the night.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer didn’t exert any force on the game until the fourth quarter as the possibility of his streak of 1,296 consecutive games with 10 or more points looked to be in danger. Entering the fourth quarter with just six points, James hit a step-back fadeaway jumper with 6:51 to go that pushed him to 10.

Read more:Lakers try to fight the boredom of seventh straight win

It was the only moment of consequence in a second half that the Lakers had long let get out of control.

Collin Gillespie buried the Lakers with 28 points and eight three-pointers, including four that came in the fourth quarter. Dillon Brooks had 33 to lead the Suns, who had little trouble scoring despite losing star guard Devin Booker.

Booker left the game with 2:05 remaining in the first quarter and didn’t return because of a right groin injury. The Suns still dictated the pace and built a 14-point halftime lead by finishing the second quarter on a 19-4 run. Brooks had 23 points in the first half.

Doncic scored 20 points in the first quarter for the second consecutive game, but unlike when he dominated the struggling New Orleans Pelicans, Doncic’s scoring was not enough Monday.

The Suns, the league leaders in steals, forced 12 Lakers turnovers in the first half, which led to 17 points for Phoenix. The Suns outscored the Lakers 16-0 in fast-break points.

Lakers guard Marcus Smart missed a third consecutive game, leaving the Lakers without a stalwart defender and vocal leader. He was previously sidelined because of back spasms, but the Lakers designated Monday’s absence as back injury management. Redick doesn’t believe the absence will be long-term as Smart underwent imaging that was “unremarkable,” Redick said, outside of looking “like a normal 11-year NBA veteran,” the coach added with a smile.

The Lakers could use Smart’s toughness as they proceed toward a difficult three-game East Coast trip that begins Thursday in Toronto. They play three games in four days, including in Boston on Friday and in Philadelphia on Sunday. All three teams are above .500, while the Lakers are 4-4 against such teams.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.