SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 With a little more than nine minutes left in the first quarter of Friday\u2019s 124-118 loss to the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr felt the same concern that every single one of his team\u2019s fans had as they watched Stephen Curry slide on a wet spot on the floor.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old star guard, playing in his third game since missing over two months because of a runner\u2019s knee injury, came up hobbling and appeared to be in pain.<\/p>\n
Kerr called a timeout to give the Warriors\u2019 franchise player a few moments to collect himself as the entire organization held its collective breath while Curry spoke to Warriors VP of player health and performance Rick Celebrini on the bench. Curry returned to the game and the potential injury crisis turned into just a minor scare.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing fine,\u201d Kerr said after the game. \u201cIt was his ankle, it wasn\u2019t his knee. That\u2019s why I took the timeout. I was worried it was his knee. I just saw him limping and he came over and said, \u2018No, I\u2019m fine. It\u2019s just the ankle.\u2019 He just tweaked it or something but he\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Curry finished with just 11 points in 27 minutes, going 3-for-8 from the field. He looked uneasy on the ankle through the rest of the first half, but found a little more rhythm in the second half before departing for good. The Warriors, who have been locked in the 10th spot in the Western Conference for a little while, looked like they were just going through the motions against the tanking Kings.<\/p>\n
Still, there was a little excitement down the stretch.<\/p>\n
Brandin Podziemski knew exactly how much was riding on his last free throw. The 23-year-old Warriors guard knew his team was on the verge of another loss. He understood that his two free throws, with 4.5 seconds left, wouldn\u2019t make a difference in the final outcome \u2014 but after missing the first shot, he couldn\u2019t help but smile at the rest of his teammates as they looked on from the bench.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because they knew he was one point away from finally reaching a career high of 30 points, a mark that had eluded him in every game of his three NBA seasons leading up to Friday night. So as he went through his normal routine before the last free throw of the night, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a brief moment to collect himself. He knew the shot would be a lot more memorable than the final score.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody did,\u201d Podziemski said when asked if he knew his point total. \u201cAs soon as I missed the first one, everybody on the bench looked at me and that\u2019s why I smiled a little bit. But yeah, they\u2019ve just been giving me a hard time about it the whole year.\u201d<\/p>\n
How hard a time?<\/p>\n
Curry said he told Podziemski that whenever he reached the milestone, he is going to have the young guard hold a sign with \u201c30\u201d on it, just like older players have done when they have had huge scoring nights in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him we were gonna treat him like Devin Booker when he scored 70 in Boston and they lost,\u201d Curry said with a grin. \u201cWe\u2019ll give him the sign and all that. I know he\u2019s been searching for it. Everybody knew it too, so it was fun to see him get it, and the way he got it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from the personal pride Podziemski felt after finally reaching the elusive mark, his achievement also set off a torrent of support on X after the game was over. That\u2019s because X user\u00a0@currysnotafraud<\/a> has garnered online attention since tweeting on Nov. 25, 2024, that it would not tweet again until Podziemski scored 30 points.<\/p>\n On Friday night, the wish came true \u2014 but what made the shot even more impressive was that if Podziemski had missed the second free throw, he also would have earned free pizza for the Sacramento crowd as part of a promotion around players missing two free throws. Podziemski wore a look of relief as he smiled at the postgame podium.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would have been bad on both ends,\u201d Podziemski said. \u201cPizza and the account can be activated now<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n