Steph Curry has accomplished a lot since he came into the NBA in 2009, but amazingly, the Warriors star never had hit a buzzer-beating shot before Friday night.
Of course, Curry had hit several game-winning shots — seven to be exact — entering the night, but none with 0.0 left on the clock.
That all changed when Curry hit a step-back 22-foot jumper as time expired to give the Warriors a 105-103 win over the pesky Houston Rockets at Chase Center.
After hitting the shot, Curry ran towards the Warriors bench and he tried to run up the tunnel to the locker room, but he was stopped by Warriors senior vice president of communications Raymond Ridder and director of public relations Brett Winkler. They made him stay on the court for the celebration and subsequent interview with NBC Sports Bay Area.
During his postgame interview with Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike, Curry screamed in joy after finally hitting a buzzer-beating shot, and after the game, he revealed that it was the encounter with Ridder and Winkler that made him realize it was the first of his legendary career.
“It’s just how the game goes,” Curry told reporters. “I’ve hit some shots with 0.1, 0.4, one second, whatever it is. Big shots. But it’s a different feeling when it’s a walk-off. It’s good to know what that feels like finally.
“I didn’t realize until Raymond and Brett played the best defense of the night, trying not to let me go through the tunnel. It’s been seven years since they’ve been tested like that and they failed last time, I heard, with Andre [Iguodala] in Atlanta. He got all the way to the locker room and they were going to let that happen again. So that’s when I realized and kind of came to.”
Curry and the Warriors needed the win over the Rockets in the worst way. But couldn’t afford to lose both ends of the home back-to-back to the Indiana Pacers and Houston.
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Curry said he “absolutely” planned to go up the tunnel if the Warriors’ PR blockade hadn’t been there. Considering the moment, this was one time he was totally fine having to stay on the court for a few extra minutes.