Great stuff as always, EA. Got all the feels flowing, especially with the original core 4 getting back together this season.
Are we taking nominations for other Greatest Steph Shots? If so, I submit the prequel to BANG BANG — the "AND. HE. GOT IT!" shot that crushed the souls of Memphis in the 2015 playoffs.
Situation, to jog the memory: Game 6 of the 2015 WC Semis — a series in which early on looked to many doubters like the end of the line for the upstart "jump shooting team" against the grit-and-grind Grizz. The baby Ws have gained the upper hand by Game 6, but lead by just 5 late in the 3rd Q in Memphis. Memphis has the ball and a chance to cut it to 2 or 3 going into the 4th quarter, with every expectation of forcing a Game 7 in Oakland. The call...
It never gets old. The international calls are the best.
The thing people today have a hard time imagining is that Curry's shot was absurd at the time. We're used to seeing it now, and other guys can shoot from those longer distances now, but at the time, he was the only one. To launch from 38 feet... no defender could have guessed that he'd put it up from there. It just seemed impossibly great.
Ending on Dray apologizing and saying it won't happen again. I see you.
Ultimately, I think this game might be the most satisfying win of the entire Warriors dynasty. The Dubs had two leads the entire game, one for like 10 seconds in the third or early fourth and one as the buzzer sounded. And the other games that might qualify for best win: game 6 OKC, games 6/7 HOU, any of the championship wins either finished not as close as this one or were a direct sequel to this game.
Also this game happened the day before my wedding so I watched with family from overseas at a fancy restaurant on the water, so it had extra personal significance to me.
Aug 25, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot, punk basketball
Holy shit, this is so well done, Apricot! And that’s high praise coming from YouTube’s #1 purveyor of gorilla pornography.
Couple of thoughts:
1:49 Maybe it’s angle, in the huddle Varejao looks taller than Bogut. I thought Bogut was at least a couple inches taller.
2:50 Chelsea Lane’s popped collar in an important supporting role
8:50 Adams’ going boneless: Priceless
13:48 Roberson does a great job of hustling back on defense and sets up to guard Curry 5 feet behind the 3-point line and then is like “Holy shit, you’re gonna shoot it from THERE?”
Interestingly, this game ranks pretty low on the Steph all-time games list when ranked by PER. (Yes, I know PER is garbage, but it's the best metric I've found that's totally box-score based and can therefore be applied evenly across most eras). It is only T18 in points, T30 in points/min, 32nd in TS%.
I've long thought about a blended metric that uses PER as a component but also factors in other stuff like venue, home/away, team defensive quality, and importance/pressure of the game, all of which this game would rank very highly in. But some of that stuff is hard to find and most of it is very subjective. Then there's stuff like Steph turning his ankle and then coming back in that you really can't quantify at all.
All of that said, I think the vast majority of Warriors fans (myself included) would pick this as the #1 Steph Curry game (regular season) of all time and it wouldn't be close.
It never gets old. What a watch. Always love the live commentary from around the world.
I would have loved to see the Kanter Helpless Shrug highlighted. Gets me cracking up every time. Steph has barely even shot the ball and he knows it's done.
Ibaka's reaction at the end like he's got some serious indigestion from some Curry that was just a little bit too spicy...
Great stuff as always, EA. Got all the feels flowing, especially with the original core 4 getting back together this season.
Are we taking nominations for other Greatest Steph Shots? If so, I submit the prequel to BANG BANG — the "AND. HE. GOT IT!" shot that crushed the souls of Memphis in the 2015 playoffs.
Situation, to jog the memory: Game 6 of the 2015 WC Semis — a series in which early on looked to many doubters like the end of the line for the upstart "jump shooting team" against the grit-and-grind Grizz. The baby Ws have gained the upper hand by Game 6, but lead by just 5 late in the 3rd Q in Memphis. Memphis has the ball and a chance to cut it to 2 or 3 going into the 4th quarter, with every expectation of forcing a Game 7 in Oakland. The call...
Green weaving...
Trying to get the shot up, no call that way...
Curry flings (flips?) it the other way...
AND. HE. GOT IT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9necA_prVM
Good job and Thank you!
Brings a tear to my eye! Great stuff Eric.
I’m so excited to see our boys back on the court together this year.
Excellent work! I’ll watch this 10 more times tomorrow.
Thank you
Also FYI
***
In the 25 seasons for which we have pbp data, there have been only 11 teams with winning records in games they trailed by double digits.
3 of the 11 were the 2014-15, 2015-16 & 2016-17 Warriors.
https://twitter.com/johnschuhmann/status/1430544945031655430?s=21
***
Fun times.
FYI Preseason schedule released: https://twitter.com/warriorspr/status/1430629201007177728?s=21
It never gets old. The international calls are the best.
The thing people today have a hard time imagining is that Curry's shot was absurd at the time. We're used to seeing it now, and other guys can shoot from those longer distances now, but at the time, he was the only one. To launch from 38 feet... no defender could have guessed that he'd put it up from there. It just seemed impossibly great.
Ending on Dray apologizing and saying it won't happen again. I see you.
Ultimately, I think this game might be the most satisfying win of the entire Warriors dynasty. The Dubs had two leads the entire game, one for like 10 seconds in the third or early fourth and one as the buzzer sounded. And the other games that might qualify for best win: game 6 OKC, games 6/7 HOU, any of the championship wins either finished not as close as this one or were a direct sequel to this game.
Also this game happened the day before my wedding so I watched with family from overseas at a fancy restaurant on the water, so it had extra personal significance to me.
Holy shit, this is so well done, Apricot! And that’s high praise coming from YouTube’s #1 purveyor of gorilla pornography.
Couple of thoughts:
1:49 Maybe it’s angle, in the huddle Varejao looks taller than Bogut. I thought Bogut was at least a couple inches taller.
2:50 Chelsea Lane’s popped collar in an important supporting role
8:50 Adams’ going boneless: Priceless
13:48 Roberson does a great job of hustling back on defense and sets up to guard Curry 5 feet behind the 3-point line and then is like “Holy shit, you’re gonna shoot it from THERE?”
“Steph Curry dunks”
Interestingly, this game ranks pretty low on the Steph all-time games list when ranked by PER. (Yes, I know PER is garbage, but it's the best metric I've found that's totally box-score based and can therefore be applied evenly across most eras). It is only T18 in points, T30 in points/min, 32nd in TS%.
I've long thought about a blended metric that uses PER as a component but also factors in other stuff like venue, home/away, team defensive quality, and importance/pressure of the game, all of which this game would rank very highly in. But some of that stuff is hard to find and most of it is very subjective. Then there's stuff like Steph turning his ankle and then coming back in that you really can't quantify at all.
All of that said, I think the vast majority of Warriors fans (myself included) would pick this as the #1 Steph Curry game (regular season) of all time and it wouldn't be close.
It never gets old. What a watch. Always love the live commentary from around the world.
I would have loved to see the Kanter Helpless Shrug highlighted. Gets me cracking up every time. Steph has barely even shot the ball and he knows it's done.
Great video with lots of nuanced details. Takes me back to my original emotions watching this game live. Amazing and unforgettable.
Man that was special. Thanks Eric. This team has so many stories, and it feels like all of them were in play on the court that night.