Sports
Klay Thompson returned to the Bay, but Stephen Curry had the last splash
SAN FRANCISCO — It was rather early for his “Night, Night” celebration, the move Steph Curry does to declare a victory secured.
“I almost pulled a Si Woo Kim,” Curry said of the golfer who in September did the Golden State Warriors star’s signature after a clutch chip-in on hole No. 16 before eventually losing the Presidents Cup on hole No. 18.
“But thankfully, we were able to finish it. … Yeah, a little premature.”
Up four with 26.4 seconds remaining, after hitting Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II with a couple of crossovers before drilling a 3-pointer from the top, Curry’s international trademark appeared organically. Emotion made it hard to prioritize score and clock. The adrenaline and testosterone, the euphoria of supremacy, rendered win probability secondary.
A moment had been orchestrated. A message had been enunciated. It had to be punctuated.
So Curry roared at the raucous Chase Center crowd, thunderous enough this night to evoke memories of Oracle Arena. He tugged at the Golden State across his jersey and pounded his chest with a fist. Then he turned to the cameras, and into the eyes of millions, and let his competitive arrogance speak to anyone else who’d dare leave his side for greener pastures.
“You better stay here!” Curry yelled, emphasizing location with a double point to the hardwood on which he stood. “You better stay here!”
💥 STEPHEN CURRY 💥
NIGHT NIGHT 😴 pic.twitter.com/SZtkcgORWi
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 13, 2024
Tuesday night’s NBA Cup opener was all about Klay Thompson and the affinity he’s garnered from Warriors world.
Hundreds of Golden State employees lined his walkway into the arena. Thousands of fans donned a white sailor’s cap in his honor. After a one-minute tribute video, Thompson basked in a minute-long ovation featuring enough sentiment to crumble his facade of indifference.
As he’d done so many times before, Thompson sent a wave of chills through the arena. A Bay Area legend was back. A beloved cohort of a dynasty was home.
This night began as a ballad to Captain Klay. It ended with a reminder it was Curry’s ship.
“Yeah,” Thompson said after the game, “it hurts to be on the other side of one of his flurries. The guy got hot at the end and made some ridiculous shots. Being on the other end, it sucks.”
On the floor with at least five future Hall of Famers, Curry was the best player when it mattered most. Four months before he turns 37.
Down 114-108 with just over three minutes remaining, Curry ran off 10 straight points. Neither Luka Dončić nor Kyrie Irving nor Klay Thompson could answer Curry. He scored 12 points in the final 3:10.
He finished with a game-high 37 points — to go with his 9 assists and 6 rebounds — as the Warriors improved to 9-2 with a 120-117 win. Two nights after closing out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City, and Jayson Tatum in Boston before that, Curry again declared his eliteness.
Undoubtedly, he wanted his Splash Brother to hear him loudest. A mindset that honors their relationship, considering they are bonded by their competitive spirits as much as their shooting prowess.
Curry was determined not to give Thompson the satisfaction of victory. The overflow of admiration was enough. Curry stayed in the tunnel during the playing of the tribute video, dodging the emotion he was sure to feel. Likewise, Draymond Green got the video delivered to him early so he could watch it and get the feels out of the way. Curry didn’t even talk to Thompson until a pregame hug right before tipoff.
On the first play of the game, Thompson took Curry into the post, endeavoring to use his height advantage over the point guard. He drew a foul on Curry, who was aggressive and physical because, as Green said, he wanted to take the ball from Klay.
“I blacked out on that one,” Curry said. “I wasn’t going to let him score and I fouled him.”
He got the steal the next time Thompson posted him, stripping him under the basket. A third time, Curry forced Thompson into a bad shot.
This is gonna take some getting used to 😳 pic.twitter.com/95RPyz4HAJ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 13, 2024
When Curry dropped in a floater in the second quarter, drawing the foul on Thompson in the process, he shot a taunting stare at his former backcourt mate.
“I knew he’d come in ready to go,” Green said. “But when you see him express that type of emotion, everybody else just falls in line. I try to lead in that category. When he’s up, I move to the side, let him do his thing and be his support. He was absolutely incredible tonight, and I knew he’d be locked in from the get-go.”
Coincidentally, in denying Klay, Curry underscored that he doesn’t have (a) Klay.
Golden State outscored Dallas by 24 points in Curry’s 35 minutes. In the 13 minutes he sat, the Mavericks outscored the hosts by 21 points.
The Warriors find themselves on this promising start because of their depth. But the league’s highest-scoring bench — which still outscored Dallas’ bench, 42-22 — struggled to score when Curry sat. And with Green and Andrew Wiggins mostly resting with him, the Warriors’ bench was overwhelmed by the dynamism of Dončić and Irving. And Klay.
Jonathan Kuminga, who finished with 16 points, is the best bench option to be an offensive anchor, but his opportunities are limited by minutes and sometimes lineups. Buddy Hield, who is featured offensively, was effective inside the arc but is not as potent when he’s not raining 3s. The Replacement Splash Brother has been revelatory this season but was 2-for-8 in the matchup against his predecessor, and the Warriors’ offense suffered.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks could stagger their stars and keep a threat on the court. And Thompson gives them a potent third option when he’s on. And Tuesday he was on, to the tune of 6-for-12 from 3 and 22 points. He came into the game having made 2 of 13 the previous two games.
He scored eight points in the fourth quarter, including two open 3s in front of the Warriors’ bench. The first was over a closeout from Curry, who sagged off Thompson too far. The second put the Mavericks ahead 110-105 with 5:17 remaining. And it unleashed the verbal and physical banter on his former shipmates.
𝑺𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑯 💦 pic.twitter.com/JG6NB3p1IJ
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) November 13, 2024
“He did a little terrible shimmy,” Green said. “It was awful.”
“He knows better than that,” Curry said.
Certainly, Curry knew he’d hear it from his fellow dynasty engineer if Thompson came home and got the dub against the Dubs. Watching Thompson stunt on them was even more motivation. The reigning Western Conference champions would now have to deal with Commodore Curry.
Ahead a point, just over 30 seconds remaining, Curry jogged up court as the tension crescendoed. He burned away precious seconds with a string of between-the-leg dribbles, waiting for the perfect time to attack. One screen got Dončić switched onto Curry. Then a second screen put Lively in his sights. Curry found his prey.
He pounded two dribbles while hopping right, setting up a sudden crossover left, getting Lively’s momentum going in that direction. Then Curry yanked a crossover back to his right, lining himself up for a dead-on 3-pointer from the top.
This splash was for Klay.
“That’s my guy, my friend, my road dog for 13 years,” Curry said. “There’s a lot of history, so you’re going to have a lot of back and forth. Some of it was competitive, some of it was fun. … It was an unreal night, for sure, all the way around.”
Almost immediately after his postgame interview, Thompson was back in his old confines. Fully dressed, wearing his captain’s hat, he hung out in the weight room and practice court he once roamed. Spending time with players and coaches and trainers on his former team. The rivalry had morphed back into brotherhood.
GO DEEPER
Amick: Thompson wanted low-key Warriors homecoming, but warm embrace could help heal wounds
(Photo of Stephen Curry celebrating his game-icing 3-pointer Tuesday night: Noah Graham / NBAE via Getty Images)
Sports
It’s Game 7, and we have a bet locked in as the Cavaliers and legacies are on the line against the Pistons
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The NBA takes a lot of flak for having meaningless games, and I can definitely understand it, watching on a random Wednesday in January. However, the playoffs have delivered over and over to viewers and rewarded us for putting up with garbage regular-season games.
This will be the fourth Game 7 of the playoffs. Three series have been sweeps, and the other three have been six games. That shows competitive hoops. Now, how do we bet this Game 7 in the Eastern Conference?
The Cleveland Cavaliers blew it. After not winning a road game all postseason, they took Game 5 in surprising fashion. It looked like they were going to win in six games. After all, they hadn’t lost a game at home in the postseason.
Instead, Detroit came out and blitzed the Cavs, never giving them a chance to get their footing. They lost in an ugly fashion and now have to figure out a way to win a game on the road.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden drives to the basket against the Detroit Pistons during the second half of Game 5 in the second-round NBA playoffs in Detroit on May 13, 2026. (Duane Burleson/AP)
It isn’t just the Cavs’ fate that rests in this game. It is also the legacy of James Harden and, to a lesser extent, Donovan Mitchell.
We know that Mitchell is a very good player, but he isn’t regarded as one of the best players ever. Harden is. Unfortunately, Harden has struggled in Game 7s. He’s averaged 19.1 points, 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds. That’s not terrible, but looking at his shooting percentages, he is at 35.3% and 22.2% in those games. He actually is 4-4 overall in the games, but in his past three, he has scored a combined 34 points over 113 minutes.
The Detroit Pistons seem to like playing with their backs against the wall. They are a gritty team, so I suppose it makes sense.
Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren reacts after allowing a pass to go out of bounds in the second half of Game 4 of the second-round NBA playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland on May 11, 2026. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Cade Cunningham continues to deliver for the team, and he finally got some help in Game 6 from Jalen Duren. This was never going to be an easy series for Duren, but it feels like he is taking more time to mature than others. He definitely improved this year, but the consistency they need from him just isn’t there yet.
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Now as the team goes home they will need Duren to be a beast on the glass. If he can keep the Pistons in the rebounding battle, they should win this game with ease. They won Game 6 by just three rebounds, but that takes away a big dimension of what Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley do for the Cavs. It isn’t everything, though, as the Pistons won the rebounding battle in both losses in Cleveland.
I don’t see this being a runaway game for the Pistons. Mitchell and Cunningham likely will cancel each other out with scoring. Harden needs to establish himself as the third-best player on the floor. I haven’t seen him do that in the postseason, yet.
Cleveland Cavaliers All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and James Harden talk during Game 2 in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs vs. the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Ohio. (David Dermer/Imagn Images)
This is the second Game 7 of the playoffs for both of the clubs, so it isn’t like either will be caught off guard about what this entails.
If I look at it objectively, I think the Cavs have the better players. However, the Pistons have looked significantly better this season, and definitely in the playoffs overall. Both are prone to issues and slipping. The Cavs shouldn’t be as they are a veteran team.
This game has to be won by Cleveland, though. There is too much riding on the franchise and legacies of guys for them to not prepare properly for it. Maybe that’s weak analysis, but I’m taking the Cavs with the points and I do think they win outright. I expect a monster game from Mitchell, and Harden should get 10+ assists.
Either way, whoever wins will lose to the New York Knicks.
For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
SOUTHERN SECTION SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
FIRST ROUND
DIVISION 1
Murrieta Mesa 10, Valley View 0
Orange Lutheran 10, Millikan 0
Chino Hills 2, El Modena 1
Etiwanda 14, Agoura 13
Palos Verdes 3, Riverside King 2
Cypress 4, Fullerton 2
Ayala 11, Charter Oak 1
Riverside Poly 7, California 3
Norco 2, Marina 1
DIVISION 3
Rancho Cucamonga 9, Paloma Valley 1
Great Oak 5, West Torrance 2
Edison 8, El Segundo 5
El Toro 9, Colton 0
Murrieta Valley 9, Redondo Union 8
North Torrance 5, Beaumont 0
West Ranch 7, Trabuco Hills 6
San Juan Hills 8, Riverside North 7
Oak Park 10, Cerritos Valley Christian 4
Highland 7, Northview 2
La Serna 4, Carter 0
Dos Pueblos 5, Crescenta Valley 0
Liberty 10, Arcadia 3
DIVISION 5
Anaheim 11, Flintridge Sacred Heart 0
Patriot 11, Arrowhead Christian 9
Temple City 9, Rancho Christian 6
Grace 11, Buena Park 0
Crean Lutheran 3, Alemany 2
Shadow Hills 8, Cerritos 3
San Marcos 10, Leuzinger 0
South El Monte 7, Long Beach Wilson 5
Covina 11, Garden Grove Santiago 1
Muir 8, Rio Hondo Prep 7
Santa Monica 6, Katella 5
Ontario 6, Norwalk 2
Northwood 18, Duarte 11
DIVISION 7
Bloomington 9, Fillmore 8
Miller 11, Savanna 3
Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 11, Riverside Springs Magnolia 4
Faith Baptist 18, St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 4
Twentynine Palms 16, Rancho Alamitos 15
Riverside Notre Dame 12, Costa Mesa 2
Firebaugh 9, Pioneer 8
Chadwick 6, Desert Christian Academy 1
Cathedral City 2, Artesia 1
Orange 9, Bellflower 3
Santa Ana 10, Hawthorne 0
Culver City 9, Temecula Prep 8
DIVISION 8
Banning 20, Redlands Adventist 3
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3:15 p.m. unless noted)
SECOND ROUND
DIVISION 1
La Habra at Murrieta Mesa, noon
Chino Hills at Orange Lutheran
Etiwanda at Westlake
La Mirada at Palos Verdes, noon
Garden Grove Pacifica at Cypress, noon
Ayala at JSerra
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Oaks Christian, 1 p.m.
Norco at Riverside Poly
DIVISION 2
Bonita at Ganesha, 11 a.m.
Whittier Christian at Warren
Simi Valley at St. Paul
Moorpark at Lakewood St. Joseph, 11 a.m.
Temescal Canyon at San Clemente, 12:30 p.m.
Huntington Beach at Camarillo, Monday
Saugus at Vista Murrieta, 12:30 p.m.
Mater Dei at Gahr, noon
DIVISION 3
Great Oak at Rancho Cucamonga
Edison at El Toro, Monday
Murrieta Valley at North Torrance
West Ranch at San Juan Hills
Riverside Prep at Oak Park, 12:30 p.m.
La Serna at Highland
Dos Pueblos at La Salle, Monday
Villa Park at Liberty, 1 p.m.
DIVISION 4
St. Bonaventure at Harvard-Westlake, 11 a.m.
Apple Valley at Oxnard
Don Lugo at Monrovia, 1:30 p.m.
La Quinta at Mira Costa
Rio Mesa at Mission Viejo, 10 a.m.
Oak Hills at Sunny Hills
Ramona at Paramount
Burbank Burroughs at Rosary, Monday
DIVISION 5
Anaheim vs. Santa Clara at Beck Park
Temple City at Patriot
Crean Lutheran at Grace
Viewpoint at Shadow Hills
San Marcos at Irvine University, noon
South El Monte at Covina
Santa Monica at Muir, 10:30 a.m.
Northwood at Ontario, 1 p.m.
DIVISION 6
Irvine at Lakeside
Alhambra at Heritage
Eastside at Granite Hills, noon
El Monte at St. Genevieve
Sierra Vista vs. Southlands Christian at Brea Canyon Cutoff Rd
Hesperia Christian vs. St. Monica Prep at Memorial Park, 2 p.m.
Arroyo at Lancaster
San Jacinto at Jurupa Valley
DIVISION 7
Bloomington at Ramona Convent
Miller at Santa Ana Calvary Chapel
Faith Baptist at Twentynine Palms, Monday
Firebaugh vs. Riverside Notre Dame at Ramona
Chadwick at Cathedral City
Orange at Victor Valley, 11 a.m.
Santa Ana at Culver City, Monday
Windward at Edgewood, Monday at 3:30 p.m.
DIVISION 8
ACE at Avalon
Bolsa Grande vs. San Bernardino, Monday at San Bernardino College
Workman at Glendale
Cobalt at Santa Rosa Academy
Bell Gardens vs. Brentwood at John Anson Ford Park
Pomona Catholic vs. Capistrano Valley Christian at Laguna Hills, 2 p.m.
Fontana at Banning
Hawthorne MSA at Arroyo Valley, 1 p.m.
Note: Quarterfinals May 20; Semifinals May 23; Finals May 28-30 at Bill Barber Memorial Park, Irvine.
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After a slow first round at Aronimink Golf Club in Philadelphia on Thursday, pace of play was a point of emphasis at the PGA Championship on Friday.
However, when an official approached Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley, they became animated.
Thomas, a longtime Team USA Ryder Cup member, and Bradley, last year’s United States captain, were on the fourth hole when they were approached by an official in a cart, and the conversation quickly turned into finger-pointing.
Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley watch from the tenth green during the second round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown, Pennsylvania, on May 15, 2026. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Thomas said after the round that he, Bradley and fellow USA Ryder Cupper Cameron Young, who won the Cadillac Championship earlier this month, were put on the clock, with the official telling them to pick up the pace. However, both Bradley and Thomas appeared to point at the group in front of them.
“We just didn’t really agree with it,” Thomas said, citing course conditions, high winds and tough pins. “We were behind. That wasn’t our issue… It’s just the fact that we weren’t holding up the group behind us.”
Thomas said they were caught up with the pace on the very next hole.
Justin Thomas plays his shot on the 15th tee during the second round of the PGA Championship in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, on May 15, 2026. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
GARRICK HIGGO SHARES BAFFLING COMMENTS WHILE REACTING TO TWO-SHOT PENALTY AT PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Thomas had a lengthy conversation with the official, while Bradley appeared to make his point short and sweet — though he was definitely not happy with the call.
It is a large PGA Championship field, with 156 golfers at the course and groups even starting their rounds on the back nine. The scores have also been rather high, with just 25 players below par at the time of publishing.
Aronimink also features a shared tee box on 1 and 10, holes 9 and 17 crossing paths, and a lengthy par-3 eighth hole that’s causing problems. Three par-3s are over 200 yards on the course, and there is also a 457-yard par 4 on the fourth.
Keegan Bradley prepares to putt on the 14th green during the first round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, on May 14, 2026. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
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As Chris Gotterup put it on Friday, “You’re not going to get any four-and-a-half hour rounds out here.”
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