Stephen Curry has that look again. A wry smile forms on the reigning MVP’s face as he toys with the poor soul tasked with guarding him. He fakes to his right and the defender takes the bait, allowing him to step calmly back behind the three-point line and drain the shot. Just another game winner in a career full of them.
However, it’s not LeBron James who is attempting to contain the man who led the Golden State Warriors to capture last season’s NBA championship (a feat King James was unable to do in last year's Finals). Rather, it’s a student from Wu Ai High School in Huangpu District, one of 30 lucky teens who had the chance to go one-on-one against the two-time All-Star. (Note: none of the kids scored.)
China’s love affair with the NBA is well known and the league’s stars routinely visit during the off-season. Curry’s teammates Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes headlined an NBA China fan event in Wuhan, while Kobe grabbing a cup of coffee from Jing’an cafe Sumerian this summer made TMZ.
Curry’s visit to the high school is the final stop of his Under Armor Asia tour and the first event in the NBA’s new partnership with China’s Ministry of Education. It’s a surprisingly intimate affair restricted to 400 students and officials from the Shanghai Sports Bureau.
Select students sit in the middle of the court, decked out in Curry’s Under Armor gear. They run drills together with one student winning bragging rights by being the only one to hit a half-court shot in a shooting contest with the player many are calling “the greatest shooter in NBA history.”
During the event, Curry is in full role model mode. When one of the students ask how long he plans to play for the Warriors, he answers, "the goal is to play as long as my dad so 16 years," a reference to retired shooting specialist and current Charlotte Hornets broadcaster Dell Curry.
He uses sports as metaphor for life, telling students he never loses confidence during a bad game “because I know I put in the work to prepare,” a nod to his routine of shooting over 1,000 three-point attempts before every practice.
Unlike recent basketball greats – think LeBron James with his unbreakable build, Michael Jordan with his otherworldly hops or Yao Ming with his skyscraper height – Curry isn’t a physical marvel seemingly built to dominate the game.
He’s not particularly tall or fast, and he rarely dunks. What Curry does is shoot the ball at historically great levels. The type of circus shots you goof around with your friends are just part of his arsenal. Last year, he broke the NBA record by scoring 286 three-pointers in the season, hitting over 44 percent of his attempts.
The rest of Curry’s game unspools from his shooting prowess. He dribbles past overzealous defenders finding the 0.4 of a second it takes for him to launch a shot. As the Warriors’ point guard, he orchestrates one of the NBA’s most feared offenses, one that proved small ball really can win championships.
The everyman elements to his game and the Warriors’ success have propelled Curry’s popularity. Last year, he surpassed LeBron for having the most jersey sales in America, and a February poll shows he sits behind Kobe Bryant and Derrick Rose for China jersey sales.
Curry admits it’s been a fun summer, noting “you want to celebrate the championship as much as you can because you know how hard it is to win it.” However, he’s ready for the upcoming season, which tips off on October 27 with preseason games between the Los Angeles Clippers and Charlotte Hornets set in Shenzhen on October 11 and Shanghai on October 14.
“There’s more of a spotlight,” he admits. “But I’m looking forward to the season starting so we can begin defending our title and hopefully get back.”
// NBA Global Games Shenzhen: Oct 11, 1pm, RMB350-10,000. Longgang Sports Center, tickets.
// NBA Global Games Shanghai: Oct 14, 7.30pm, RMB360-16,888. Mercedes-Benz Arena, tickets. See event listing.
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