SAN FRANCISCO — Given their history — the four championships they both captured, the shooting records they both set, the thousands of 3s they both splashed — the moment bordered on surreal.
As the second quarter’s final seconds evaporated away, Stephen Curry found himself guarded by Klay Thompson. On paper, this game, one in which the Warriors narrowly beat the Mavericks 120-117 in their first game of the NBA Cup, was more than just Curry and Thompson. In reality, this night was about the Splash Brothers.
Curry, who finished with 37 points and nine assists, drove strong to his right. Thompson, who had 22 points and made six 3-pointers, couldn’t stay in front. Curry, understanding the advantage, stopped, jumped and tossed up a wild shot. It was more of a shot put than a true floater. It found net, regardless.
Thompson picked up the foul; Curry stared him down. This was not a mean mug. This was not a side-eye. As Curry hunched over and tensed up, his gaze appeared to contain a hint of vitriol. For all the love that Thompson received in his return to Chase Center — and there was a lot of love — Curry’s and-1 served as a reminder of reality.
Curry and Thompson were now impediments to one another’s success. And, as Curry has proven on countless occasions, sentimentality owns no real estate on the battleground. The feeling was mutual.
During winning time, Curry and Thompson both took center-stage roles. With a little over five minutes remaining in regulation, Thompson hit a 3-pointer that extended the Mavericks’ lead to five points and forced head coach Steve Kerr to call a timeout.
Curry responded in the following minutes with a midrange jumper, a 3-pointer and a go-ahead finger roll, one that gave the Warriors a 115-114 lead with 1:48 remaining. On the ensuing possession, Thompson clanked a go-ahead 3-pointer. Then, with a little under 30 seconds remaining, Curry hit Dereck Lively II with a series of moves before hitting his fifth 3 of the evening.
Night night, indeed.
These sequences were two of several instances where Thompson found himself at the center of attention.
On the very first play of the game, as if it was preordained, Curry and Thompson were matched up against one another, the latter posting up the former.
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Thompson, owning the height advantage, spun towards the rim and went up for the layup. Curry picked up the personal, and Thompson earned two free throws. As Thompson sank both shots from the stripe, the capacity crowd serenaded him with a cacophony of cheers and jeers.
Curry soon had a response. On the game’s second play, Curry received a pass from Draymond Green at the left wing and knocked down a 3-pointer over Thompson’s outstretched arms. As Curry jogged back, he pointed in Thompson’s direction.
Those first 30 seconds of game time foreshadowed the drama that awaited the thousands of fans donning white Captain Klay caps.
A little under three minutes into the game, Thompson sprinted to the paint on a fastbreak and sealed Curry under the basket. Curry, in turn, swiped the ball from Thompson and ignited an explosion of cheers — cheers that quickly turned to groans when Curry airballed a 29-foot transition 3-pointer.
With a minute-and-a-half remaining in the first quarter, Thompson received a pass on the right wing in transition and splashed home his first 3-pointer of the night. Midway through the second quarter, Thompson knocked down his second and third 3s of the night on back-to-back possessions, forcing Kerr to use a timeout.
In the waning minutes of the second quarter, Thompson found himself isolated, again, on Curry. He drove right. His shot found air. Curry turned the defensive stop into two points, finding Andrew Wiggins for a transition dunk.