San Antonio — Warrior star Stephen CurryFriday night started with a pair of the Kobe 6, which the new sneaker free agent wore during pregame warmups to signal to the apparel world that he’s open for business.
“New beginnings,” he said.
But Curry’s Friday night ended in his familiar shoes and in a familiar place, with the game at the free throw line and a street arena roaring in his ears.
Swish. Swish. Curry scored both, capping the night with 49 points to lead the Warriors to a 109–108 win. Spurs,
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Curry’s free throws, “I’m not wondering if he can make them.” “I think everyone expects it.”
Trailing by one and pushing it in transition, Curry dribbled De’Aaron Fox Reach-in foul with 6.4 seconds remaining. As he dramatically turned back toward the night’s opposing star, Victor WembanyamaTurned to a loud section of the Spurs crowd and urged fans to cheer and possibly scared Curry.
When Curry was asked if he had seen it, he said, “Absolutely.” “I played in it.”
At intervals, Curry moved several feet closer to the crowd and mocked Vembanyama, urging the crowd to get louder. He then rebounded, sank his second free throw and – after a defensive stop on Fox at the buzzer – led the Warriors to their second consecutive win in San Antonio with another volcanic performance.
On Wednesday night, Curry scored 46 points in a more convincing win over the Spurs, doing a large portion of his damage at the free throw line. Curry made 15 of 16 from the line that night and is now 66 of 70 on free throws this season, putting him on track to lead the league in percentage for the sixth time in his career.
Before Friday night’s contest, Curry was reported to have scored 40-plus in a game for the 43rd time since his 30th birthday, one shy of Michael Jordan’s league record of 44.
So when Curry hit a fourth-quarter 3 — one of his nine made 3s Friday night — to get over the 40-point hump, he put a “2” and a “3” on his fingers while jogging back to the court, a tribute to Jordan for tying his record.
“I threw it backwards, though,” Curry said. “This is the second time I’ve done it. But from a personal achievement perspective it’s great. Longevity is something I’m proud of.”
It was the first time Curry has scored more than 40 in back-to-back games since 2022, and it came at a time of need for the already depleted Warriors, who had lost six straight road games before landing in San Antonio.
Curry recently missed three games due to illness and struggled with an ineffective 13 points in his first game on Tuesday, gasping for air in the second half of the blowout loss. oklahoma city thunder,
But his wind quickly returned. Curry looked fresh in both wins against the Spurs. According to GeniusIQ, Curry scored 28 of his Friday night points on off-the-dribble jumpers, his most in a game since 2015.
Later, he gave Kerr’s morning speech little credit.
“He rarely talks about his Chicago days,” Curry said. “He gave some context about his team and his identity by comparing it to a band coming together. You had your lead singer, your bass, your acoustic, electric, drummer, stagehands, people who plugged in the speakers. He said he was right up there with the guy who plugged in the speakers.”
Curry acknowledged that he was the lead singer on this night, made headlines with his pregame sneaker choice and then silenced the crowd with his performance.
