The Golden State Warriors were the talk of the NBA on Wednesday night, when they hosted Klay Thompson at Chase Center for the first time since the Splash Brother signed with the Dallas Mavericks over the summer. In an amazing back-and-forth game, the Dubs came out on top, and Steph Curry looked like a prime version of himself. Following the game, Draymond Green said on his podcast (The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis) Curry had a little extra motivation from feeling slighted by Thompson.
“Steph was supposed to speak before the game. He was like ‘Yeah I called Raymond and told him I’m not speaking. I just need to lock-in on the game so I ain’t even speaking, and I talked to Klay about it,’” Green said before revealing a major detail. “He tried to check in with Klay on something else and Klay ghosted him. And he got pissed! And here we go! Here we go! Locked in!”
Green’s story aligns with a seeming added intensity in Curry’s performance. After he scored the game-clinching basket, he ran down court and yelled at the camera “You ain’t wanna stay here?!” a call out clearly aimed at his former teammate.
The adrenaline-spiking final moments of the ‘06 Maryland-Duke Championship need a deep rewind
It's April 4th, 2006. We’re in Boston for the 2006 NCAA final between a school with a powerhouse reputation that you might be surprised to hear has never won a championship, and a school you might not be surprised to hear has never won a championship. The first one’s Duke, and the latter is Maryland in case I’m being too opaque. Terps have the ball, down three, with 12 seconds left. To understand just how surprising it is that Maryland is this close to winning the title, and how annoying that must be for Duke, we gotta rewind.
During his post-game press conference, Green expressed his own frustration with the way Thompson handled their relationship. When Green was asked about keeping in touch with Klay, he pointed to Klay’s tendency to be distant and create “one-sided” dynamics.
It’s important to clarify that this seems more like petty competitive animosity than any substantial riff between Thompson and Curry. The two embraced following the game and have both consistently spoken highly of their time together. Still, Curry probably wishes Thompson had made staying in Golden State more of a priority.
