Stephen Curry led the Warriors to a series win against the Rockets in Game 6 thanks to a phenomenal fourth quarter. And it may have been Chris Paul's pettiness that fueled the fire.
Let The Athletic's Marcus Thompson explain:
On the eve of Friday’s Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, Curry wanted to get some shots up at the Toyota Center. The Warriors do-it-all manager Eric Housen booked the court, from 7 to 8 p.m., so Curry could work on his shot.
Somehow, Rockets guard Chris Paul got wind. He decided to go to the Toyota Center to get shots up, nixing Curry’s reservations. The Warriors’ point guard offered to stick to half a court but Paul wasn’t having it. Curry was kicked off the Toyota Center court.
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Thompson added this from postgame:
Draymond Green stood outside the visiting locker room at the Toyota Center, greeting teammates as they came in. When Stephen Curry made his way through the crowd, he looked straight at Green — before they slapped hands and bumped chests — and screamed, “Kick me off the court again, boy!”
Curry was clearly motivated by Paul's actions because otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned it to Green right after the game. The motivation was a slow burner as the point guard finished with 0 points at the end of the first half. But he exploded in the fourth quarter, scoring 23 of his 33 points.
He shot 6 of 8 from the field, 3 of 5 from 3-point range and went 8 for 8 at the free throw line, all in the fourth quarter.
This photo accurately depicts the Steph curry and Chris paul “rivalry" pic.twitter.com/1nDmV4bXk8
— Marquise (@IamMarquise_) May 11, 2019
Even if Paul's actions didn't motivate Curry, it was still a disrespectful move. You're both professionals at the end of the day, and what's the harm in sharing half the court?
UPDATE: There appears to be another side to this story.
The Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen spoke with Rockets development coach Irv Roland, who disputed The Athletic's report about the Paul-Curry incident. According to Roland, this incident happened much earlier in the series (prior to Game 4) and wasn't as sinister as the initial report suggests.
"When we saw him out there, I contacted our equipment manager because they’re the ones that coordinate shooting times. He told me ‘we gave him the court at 6:45.’ We asked him how long they had the court for," Roland told the Chronicle. “When we finally went out there, Stephen cracked a joked with Chris. Chris said ‘let him shoot.’ It wasn’t like it was a confrontation. 'Let him shoot. Let him finish what he’s doing.’ We didn’t kick him off the court. We didn’t even say anything. I wanted to know how long he was shooting because I had Chris with Michael Frazier and James Harden coming right after Chris. I wanted to know how long he was going to be before James left the house.”
While Curry and Paul apparently had an amicable encounter before Game 4, this doesn't necessarily mean they didn't have another run-in ahead of Game 6. Maybe Roland just wasn't present for this altercation. If Curry scheduled time ahead of Game 4, it's possible he also scheduled time ahead of Game 6 but Paul wasn't as friendly this time.
