The Steph Game (Warriors 109, Raptors 123)

Years from now, when I’m a wizened old codger sitting in my La-Z-Boy rocker shouting mindless profanity into a 16K television set as the Warriors lose their 30th consecutive game, my grandkids will come up to me and ask me to tell them about basketball when I was growing up. I’ll talk about the time the Warriors knocked off MVP Dirk Nowitzki and the 1-seed Dallas Mavericks, and the time Baron Davis put Andrei Kirilenko on a poster. I’ll talk about how the Warriors lucked into Stephen Curry in the draft, and nearly flipped him for Amare Stoudemire. I’ll tell them about Monta Ellis’ moped escapades, the ownership change, the addition of Jerry West to the team’s brain trust, and the drafting of Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Harrison Barnes. I’ll recollect Steph going bananas at Madison Square Garden and the promise that entailed. I’ll talk about the trade for Andrew Bogut, Joe Lacob getting booed off the court at Chris Mullin’s jersey retirement, the playoff exits to the Spurs and Clippers, and the unexpected surge in 2015. I’ll tell them about the time the Warriors stashed Andrew Bogut on Tony Allen, and the time Stephen Curry finally figured out the Cavs defense and won the Bay its first basketball title in decades. I’ll tell them about the 73 win season of indomitability, the wholesale dismantling of every team in the league…save for one. I’ll tell them about Donatas Montiejunas’s sweat and how it torpedoed Stephen Curry, Harrison Barnes’ awfully timed shooting slump, and the Game 7 that got away. I’ll tell them about Kevin Durant’s next chapter, and how the Warriors rolled to two consecutive titles. I’ll tell them about the Fast Break curse, and how the Dubs lost repeatedly whenever I was in attendance in 2018-2019. And I’ll tell them about this game – that night when the Warriors, devoid of any and all options on offense, put their faith in #30 and went as far as he could carry them. Steph and the Warriors ran out of gas and fell to the Raptors 123-109 – but this is a performance that I’ll remember for a long time.

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