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OAKLAND – Just as he walked past an arena hallway, Stephen Curry stopped in his tracks. The Warriors’ star saw his mom, Sonya. Then Curry performed a double take.
Unlike most of his NBA games that she attended, Curry’s mother did not wear Stephen’s jersey. With Stephen playing against his younger brother, Seth, in the Warriors’ 116-94 win over Portland in the Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Sonya and Curry’s father, Dell, changed their outfits.
By virtue of a coin flip, Sonya wore the front of Seth’s No. 31 Trail Blazers jersey and the back of Stephen’s No. 30 Warriors jersey. Meanwhile, Dell sported the front of Stephen’s No. 30 Warriors jersey and the back of Seth’s No. 31 Trail Blazers jersey.
“Who are you with?” Stephen asked Sonya. She then turned around and showed the back of her jersey. Yet, Stephen admittedly was not so sure.
“When I made a shot, I saw her stand up and cheer and I saw her in all Portland gear,” Stephen said. “It’s just weird. It’s probably more nerve-wracking for them in terms of just trying to get settled into what this series is going to mean.”
So far, it means the Warriors and Stephen are too dominant for Portland and Seth. Stephen had 36 points while shooting 12-of-23 from the field and tying an NBA post-season record 9-of-15 mark from deep. Seth had only three points while going 1-of-7 from deep. So when Dell and Sonya saw Seth come out of the Trail Blazers’ locker room, they gave him a hug. Moments later, Sonya bantered with Stephen before his post-game press conference.
“A different light goes off when you see your brother across from you” Stephen said. “We’re going to enjoy this experience and it will be something to remember, no matter how it ends up.”
Stephen and Seth have performed this ritual plenty of times. They matched up against each countlessly as kids. They squared off head-to-head in nine regular-season NBA games. They competed in this year’s 3-point contest during NBA All-Star weekend in their hometown of Charlotte, N.C.
During those times, Stephen exerted his credentials as a two-time NBA role player. Stephen outperformed Seth in points (24.6, 8.0), shooting percentage (47.6, 36.9) and assists (7.1, 2.9) under vastly different minutes (33.2, 19.9). Stephen finished second in this 3-point contest, while Seth was eliminated in the first round. Still, Stephen admitted this one felt different. As Stephen said, “on this stage, trying to chase a Finals appearance, it’s pretty surreal.”
In fairness to the game, Stephen and Seth did not have many surreal moments. Stephen bit on one of Seth’s pump fakes before he clanked a jumper. Other than that, the siblings did not produce many memorable on-court moments together.
Most of the attention centered on Dell and Sonya in the stands. Not only did TV cameras lock in on them. So did Stephen.
“I caught myself a couple times looking up in the stands at my parents,” Stephen said. “They can’t help themselves. So any time either one of us did something good, they both were clapping. So they got to fix themselves.”
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