Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry, proper, reaches out to slap palms with teammate Draymond Green, left, following a play in opposition to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday. Curry scored 23 factors in Golden State’s 115-97 win and later talked about how his 2008 Davidson workforce and the 2024 N.C. State basketball workforce have some similarities.
JEFF SINER
Every March, Steph Curry remembers.And typically, during March Madness, he has a robust sense of déjà vu. Such is the case this 12 months, Curry stated Friday night time, as he watches N.C. State’s unlikely run within the NCAA Tournament — one that he’s notably fond of as a result of of a household connection he has with the present N.C. State workforce.Much just like the 2008 Davidson workforce that noticed Curry emerge as a national star whereas main the Wildcats to the Elite Eight and inside an eyelash of the Final Four, the Wolfpack have gained three consecutive video games as a double-digit seed to make it to the Elite Eight of the 2024 model of March Madness.Curry was a little busy Friday night time and couldn’t watch the N.C. State game reside. He scored a stable however unspectacular 23 factors as Golden State took care of the Charlotte Hornets, 115-97, earlier than a sold-out crowd of 19,487 followers on the Spectrum Center, many of whom have been carrying Curry’s No. 30 jersey. The Warriors-Hornets game Friday and N.C. State’s 67-58 win over Marquette in Dallas have been performed concurrently.But Curry discovered the outcome rapidly after the NBA game and talked concerning the kinship between 2008 Davidson and 2024 N.C. State afterward.“I mean, it’s obviously different with us coming from the Southern Conference and them in the ACC,” Curry started. “But the seeding? We were a 10 seed and they were an 11 seed. It’s the Cinderella, unlikely run kind of vibes.”As for his own reminiscences of Davidson’s three NCAA Tournament wins in 2008, two of which got here in Raleigh, the 36-year-old Curry stated: “I think about it all the time. … It just means I’m getting old and that was now 16 years ago, which is nuts. But I still get some goose bumps every once in a while.”And as for the Wolfpack’s run, Curry stated it was good for school basketball. “You need a story like that every year because it keeps the energy up and the surprise of who’s gonna make it to the Final Four,” Curry stated. N.C. State will face acquainted ACC foe Duke on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. in Dallas (CBS) for a Final Four berth.Curry has a couple of connections to the Wolfpack, too, as does his household. After first answering a query about March Madness noting that “my bracket is trash,” Curry rapidly pivoted to household issues. “Shout-out to my cousin Steve Snell, who’s coaching for N.C. State (as an assistant coach who is the director of basketball operations),” Curry stated. “And his son, Jordan, is on the team. … So I have some family in the tournament, and I’m rooting for them for sure.”Curry was in a good temper Friday night time not simply because of N.C. State’s win. In one of the NBA’s more peculiar streaks, the Warriors had misplaced 4 straight video games in Charlotte over the previous a number of years. And of their most up-to-date look, in October 2022, Curry had bemoaned the fact he tried to play “hero ball” on the finish of regulation, lacking a contested 3-pointer that compelled extra time, which Charlotte gained.So Golden State’s 18-point win over Charlotte (18-55) Friday night time was not one Curry took without any consideration, notably because the Warriors (39-34) are in a dogfight for playoff positioning within the Western Conference. “It’s nice to actually win here,” Curry stated. “It’s been a minute since we did that.” Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry, proper, begins to drive round Charlotte Hornets guard Tre Mann, left, during first quarter action at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC on Friday, March 29, 2024. JEFF SINER [email protected] The game had one notable confrontation, between Golden State’s Draymond Green and Charlotte’s Grant Williams. The two have a historical past of trash discuss and physicality, and at one level they seemed like they have been in a wrestling match on a play the place Green was in the end known as for a foul. Warriors coach Steve Kerr challenged the call however to no avail.“The Draymond-Grant Williams thing was nothing and they just got tangled up,” Kerr stated in response to a query I requested him concerning the incident later. “And you know, if it wasn’t Draymond, you wouldn’t even be asking me that. So — not a big deal.” Charlotte Hornets ahead Grant Williams, left, stands in place as Golden State Warriors ahead Draymond Green, proper, places a hand into Williams’ chest during second-half action at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC on Friday, March 29, 2024. The Warriors defeated the Hornets 115-97. JEFF SINER [email protected] Kerr wasn’t requested, nonetheless, about one other play through which it appeared Green might have tried to kick Williams.Curry, of course, steered clear of controversy and was cautious answering the usual query he will get yearly when he makes his once-a-season pilgrimage to Charlotte to play a game with the Warriors: Would he like to return back and be a Hornet some day, in a place the place his father Dell starred and is now the TV analyst and his brother Seth now plays (though he didn’t go well with up Friday on account of an ankle damage)?“I have thoughts all the time,” stated Curry, who grew up in Charlotte and played at Charlotte Christian before Davidson. “But no, I want to stay in the Bay, and that’s something I’ve talked about. There’s a curiosity of what it would be like to play here, for sure. I feel like I ask Seth a lot of questions about what it’s like to be back here just because you’re so familiar with the city and with the history of the organization.” Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry chases after a unfastened ball during second-half action in opposition to the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC on Friday, March 29, 2024. The Warriors defeated the Hornets 115-97. JEFF SINER [email protected] Curry stated it remained particular to play in Charlotte, notably as a result of he might not get the prospect to do it that always.“I probably can count on one hand how many times I get to come back,” he stated.And, within the meantime, he’ll root for the Wolfpack in opposition to Duke on Sunday.
Sports columnist Scott Fowler has written for The Charlotte Observer since 1994. Fowler has earned 22 national APSE sportswriting awards and hosted The Observer’s podcast “Carruth,” which Sports Illustrated named “Podcast of the Year.” Fowler’s new podcast and online sequence is known as “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” and options 1-on-1 interviews with NC and SC sports icons. The sequence has additionally been became a coffee-table guide, accessible at SportsLegendsE-book.com.
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