Young remembers Steph’s epic move on Kobe in Warriors-Lakers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Even NBA legends are victims of Steph Curry’s signature move celebration.
That’s exactly what happened with him. late great Kobe Bryant during a Los Angeles Lakers vs. Warriors during the 2014-15 season, as former NBA guard Nick Young Recently remembered on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast.
“I remember Kobe liked to do some extra motivational things. We were playing the Warriors and Steph was killing us,” Young recalled. “We went back to the locker room and Kobe said, ‘I got him. I figured it out. I finally figured it out.’ Say it out loud. Say, ‘I’m protecting him.’ We go to Jeremy Lin, because Jeremy Lin was being killed. “Nobody protect him. , I discovered it.”
“The chef started making moves on Kobe! Shit, it’s hard to understand someone like that.”
“Kobe said, ‘I finally discovered (Steph).’ I have it, I’m protecting it.’”
Nick Young tells about the time Kobe tried to lock up Steph Curry pic.twitter.com/eCT3VwAVrv
– Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) November 14, 2024
The shimmy, of course, is just one of Curry’s many iconic celebrations he performs after a big three-pointer or one of his lethal bursts.
But not even one of the greats could contain the Warriors superstar that night… or that season, for that matter, when Curry won his first NBA MVP award after averaging 23.8 points on 48.7 percent shooting from the field and 44.3 percent from beyond the arc, with 4.3 rebounds, 7.7 assists and two rebounds in 80 games.
Curry was 26 years old, while Bryant was 36 in his 19th NBA season, just a year before his final season in the league before retiring.
But there were no signs of Father Time for the Hall of Famer, who still averaged 22.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists in 34.5 minutes that season.
And while Bryant, the Lakers and the rest of the league quickly learned: There’s nothing that can stop Steph Curry, but Young applauded Bryant’s efforts to slow him down.
“He did a better job than Jeremy Lin, I’m not going to lie,” Young said. “But Steph made him move. I told him, ‘Kobe, you’re 36, 37 right now. He’s (26).’ She shut him down a little bit, turned off the water.”
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