On Tuesday, Stephen Curry put on a show for the fans in Beijing.
The Golden State Warriors trailed the Los Angeles Lakers by eight points with about 10 minutes to go in a preseason matchup. Hunched over at the hip, Curry ever so slowly dribbled the ball through his legs, trotting across half court as if to lull his backpedaling defender Darius Johnson-Odom to sleep. One dribble, two dribbles, three dribbles.
The hypnotism worked. Curry suddenly darted to his right to curl around Draymond Green's high screen, leaving Johnson-Odom pancaked against Green's chest. Then, Curry pulled up about 30 feet from the basket in front of Lakers guard Shawne Williams, who sat back underneath the 3-point arc before realizing his mistake: Did I just leave Curry open beyond the arc? By the time Williams sprinted out to meet Curry, the deep 3-pointer already had been released. Splash. Warriors now down by five.
A few possessions later, down three, Curry caught a handoff from Andrew Bogut 27 feet away from the basket. No one was near Curry. Release, splash. Tied game. Next possession? Curry, several feet behind the arc at the top of the key, juked Elias Harris with a crossover step-back and let it fly. Splash again. Warriors up by three with 6 minutes left. Curry's 14 fourth-quarter points helped wipe away the Lakers' 11-point lead entering the quarter, and the Warriors went on to win by five. Johnson-Odom got waived by the Lakers soon after.
Yes, it's just the preseason, but as Curry took over another game with several shots far behind the 3-point line, one question flooded my mind:
Why doesn't Curry do this more often?