NBA: Warrior godfather.

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Curry slowly dribbled the ball toward the front court and looked at Baron Davis standing in front of him. His mind wasn't on the game. Instead, he remembered the conversation he had with Liam when he flew to Los Angeles today.

"Stephen, you need to take more shots today, play more, and find your rhythm."

"I know, but Coach, if they still won't let me…"

"You don't need to think about other things. There's a gap between the Clippers' tough power and ours. You can shoot confidently. In the playoffs, the team will keep counting on you."

"Alright, I understand!"

He turned his head and glanced at Liam, who was on the sidelines. Liam nodded at him, and Curry completely put aside all his other thoughts. He turned his focus to the basket.

Curry signaled Chandler to come closer for the pick. Baron Davis, being a veteran, noticed Curry's gesture and immediately anticipated the Warriors would run a pick-and-roll. He turned his head to check where Chandler was coming from and braced himself to cover.

But the moment he turned his head, Curry raised his hand and, without warning, launched a three-pointer!

The shot was incredibly fast, and the timing was so unexpected that Baron Davis didn't react at all. He could only watch as the ball sailed over his head, drawing a high arc and swishing through the net.

Swish!3-0.

After the shot, even the entire Staples Center fell silent for a moment, as if everyone was shocked by Curry's lightning-fast three-pointer, before erupting into cheers.

"Curry starts with an outrageous three-pointer. Listen to the crowd! I thought I was sitting at the Oracle Center. The Staples Center is taken over by Warriors fans!" said Kenny Smith.

Baron Davis' face darkened as he shot Curry a cold stare. He was an old-school player with a strong territorial sense and fierce competitive spirit. Hearing the support for his opponents in his own arena was something he couldn't stand, especially when the opponent was his former team.

Fuming, he turned to face Butler's defense, attempting to steal the ball, but Butler had long surpassed his rookie phase. After a year of hard work and improvement, he was no longer an easy target. He blocked Baron Davis at the free-throw line, preventing him from making any progress.

Baron Davis dribbled the ball with all his might like a tiger, but ended up losing control. As the shot clock wound down, he passed the ball to Rasual Butler, who had no choice but to take a contested three-pointer. The ball missed, and Chandler grabbed the rebound.

Rasual Butler didn't complain. He played until the end of the season, knowing how bad the Clippers were. Everyone knew it, and the players themselves were fully aware of the team's shortcomings. They were good individually, but had no chemistry or defense. The whole team had no winning atmosphere. Everyone just wanted to stand out, rack up stats, land big contracts, and get out of that hellhole.

On the next possession, the Warriors moved quickly, with Curry still holding the ball. This time, Baron Davis stood firm. In fact, Clippers head coach Hughes had reminded Baron Davis to defend Curry, but Davis didn't seem very engaged this time. He gave Curry too much space, and of course, Curry took advantage of it to knock down another three.

Swish!

6-0.

Hughes shook his head helplessly from the sideline and shouted at the court:

"Come on, get your defense together!"

Kaman lazily glanced at him, nodded, and trotted back to the offense.

Hughes' words seemed to fall on deaf ears. What could Hughes do if Kaman didn't defend? He was an All-Star center, and Hughes was just an interim head coach who'd been appointed mid-season, likely to be gone in the summer.

Besides, it was a joke to expect a 7-foot (2.13 meters) center like Kaman to follow a guard like Curry out to the three-point line. If Kaman had to do that every time, how could he possibly stay near the basket to grab rebounds or roll to the hoop?

Kaman slowly made his way down the court, positioned himself in the low post, and raised his hand to receive the ball from Baron Davis.

Having hit his first shot, it was now Kaman's turn.

Once Kaman got the ball, Chandler was positioned with his back to the basket but couldn't block him. Kaman turned and attempted to shoot, but Chandler was all over him. The two players went back and forth, with Chandler almost tripping him up, forcing Kaman to reluctantly pass the ball.

Gordon, who had received the pass, was tightly guarded, but still managed to fire off a three-pointer. Despite Azubuike's interference, the ball bounced off the rim.

6-3.

After the basket, a few scattered cheers echoed in the arena, starkly contrasting with the high-pitched voice of the DJ, creating a confusing atmosphere. Whose court was this again?

But Gordon didn't care. He calmly returned to defense.

He was one of the few bright spots for the Clippers. After being selected 7th overall in last year's draft, Gordon had shown excellent immediate impact. He played 72 games in his rookie season, starting 65 of them, averaging 16.1 points per game with a three-point shooting percentage of 38.9%. He had great potential and was considered the Clippers' hope for the future.

But unfortunately, Gordon had been plagued by injuries in the first half of this season and missed over 20 games. His momentum had slowed, and his performance in his second season was basically on par with his rookie year, flatlining.

And only Liam knew that this was just the beginning. As a well-known injury-prone player, Gordon would continue to suffer injuries year after year. It was only after joining the Rockets that he had a reduced role as the sixth man, his game load decreased, and his assist rate went up.

The Warriors held the ball again, but this time Curry didn't go it alone. Azubuike attacked and missed a mid-range jumper, and looking back, the Clippers' offense didn't fare much better.

In the next few possessions, Curry didn't dominate the ball. Both teams exchanged shots, but the game was just getting started, and their shooting percentages weren't high.

With 6 minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Warriors attacked again. Liam gestured for Curry to take control, and Curry nodded in acknowledgment.

The score at the time was 15-13. The Clippers had learned from their mistakes and stopped facing the Warriors' two strongest defensive points. After all, assists are statistics too, right?

This made the Clippers' offense much more organized. Their increased offensive output was starting to show. Gordon, Kaman, and Rasual Butler could each create their own shots, and Drew Gooden chipped in with some key buckets, helping the Clippers close the gap.

Curry knew he needed to turn the game around.

As usual, he signaled Chandler to come for the pick. Kaman was slow to react, giving Curry the time he needed. Naturally, Curry capitalized on the opportunity, draining another three-pointer.

18-13.

Looking back, the Clippers missed another shot, and Chandler grabbed the rebound, dribbled downcourt, and once again used Chandler's pick to get open. Curry launched another three-pointer.

21-13.

"Curry has hit his fourth three-pointer of the game. Midway through the first quarter, he's already scored 12 points. The Clippers' defense against him has been horrendous… Oh, Hughes has called a timeout. Smart decision, he won't be watching Curry shoot any more threes for a while," said Kenny Smith.

Barkley mocked:

"Kenny, my eyesight's bad, can you help me out here? Is Kaman 28 or 82 years old? Are his legs glued to the floor?"

On the Clippers' bench, Hughes was so furious he muttered to himself: "Don't get mad, don't get mad…" He barely held back his anger and addressed Kaman.

"Chris, didn't I tell you this before? Careful! Don't give Curry another chance to shoot a three. Got it?"

Kaman lazily took a sip of his energy drink, nodded, and shrugged:

"I got it."

Seeing Kaman's indifferent look, Hughes's anger flared, and he coldly warned, "If I see you stay in the paint again and not follow him, you won't play again."

Kaman looked up in surprise.

"Huh? You're going to bench me?"

"What, you got a problem? I'm the head coach here!" Hughes locked eyes with him, stressing every word.

Slowly, Hughes turned his gaze to the other players, his face darkening. "Listen up, as long as I'm sitting here, I'm the head coach of this team. Whatever I say goes. What do I expect from you? Get it done! If anyone causes problems, I don't care if you're an All-Star, no one is playing!"

After finishing his tirade, he slammed the tactical board in his hand into the chair, startling the players.

They'd never seen Hughes lose his temper before. The players were momentarily stunned, lost for words. Only Gordon quickly responded.

"Coach, I'll implement the tactics properly and won't slack off on the court!"

Gordon wasn't a troublemaker, and he usually trained and played hard. He'd been frustrated with the veteran players on the team for a long time, so he immediately expressed his support for Hughes, looking at Kaman with disdain.

The others quickly

recovered and nodded in agreement, though Kaman seemed unwilling to accept that Hughes, who always played the nice guy, had suddenly lost his temper.

"I know, I'll make sure to stay out of trouble later," Kaman muttered.

Gordon turned to him again. "Enough with the nonsense!"

The timeout quickly ended, both teams returned to the court, and the game continued.

Kenny Smith remarked, "We saw Hughes lose his temper earlier. Looks like he's really unhappy with the team's defense. I don't know if the Clippers will be able to stop Curry after that timeout."

"I don't think so. Do you expect Kaman to stop Curry? He's slower than Yao Ming, who's 7'6"!" Barkley replied.

Just as he finished speaking, Baron Davis scored a layup over Butler.

The Warriors held the ball again, and Curry once more called for a pick. This time, Kaman came over and stood just outside the three-point line, his long arms blocking Curry's path to the ball.

On the sideline, Hughes smiled as he watched Curry make a quick move, forcing Kaman to lose his footing, before accelerating past him and into the open paint of the Clippers.

The smile froze on Hughes's face. Watching Curry shake his head after scoring, he suddenly found the sight of that baby-faced grin to be incredibly irritating.

The first quarter ended under Curry's relentless onslaught. After taking control of the ball at the 6-minute mark, he went into overdrive. He toyed with Kaman in the pick-and-roll, broke him down, and tortured him in multiple ways. He could do anything he wanted—inside and out. Curry hit 8 of 11 shots in the quarter, including 5 of 7 three-pointers, and was 2 of 2 from the free-throw line. He scored 23 points. The Warriors led 34-22, up by 11, with Curry outscoring the entire Clippers team by himself.

That performance made Barkley exclaim, "He just single-handedly defeated the Clippers!"

Kaman was too slow. Curry had become a scoring machine, especially after refining his game over the season. He'd broken the rookie wall, improved his finishing at the basket, and honed his skills and mentality. His experience had grown, and he felt much more comfortable than at the beginning of the season.

Liam smiled as he high-fived Curry after he came off the court. Curry had found his rhythm again, and the Warriors' hopes of competing for a playoff spot had significantly increased, bringing Liam relief.

As Liam watched the replay on the big screen, seeing Curry breeze past Kaman like a wooden post, he felt a great sense of satisfaction. Curry was playing the game the right way—both small and big—far more comfortably than at the start of the season.

Although Curry still needed to improve on his drives and finishing at the basket, he was doing well combining his shots with those drives. In Liam's judgment, aside from a few experts with incredible mobility like Howard and Garnett, Curry could beat most post players. This was crucial for the Warriors' possible playoff push.

End of this chapter

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