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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKENDFebruary 14, 2015Stephen CurryNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Q.  We know this is something you wanted. How much will you cherish this victory? STEPHEN CURRY: I'm very happy right now. I've obviously been in it four times. So I wanted to win it and get it done. And thankfully tonight I got it, was able to accomplish that. Crazy, competitive and high‑class field of all eight shooters. So I think this is‑‑ just watching the competition, I think this is definitely the best field that's ever been in a three‑point shootout. Just a pretty cool moment for me. Q. Do you feel this contest shows who is the best three‑point shooter in the NBA? STEPHEN CURRY: I want to be. There's obviously different criteria you can look at to judge that. Just being in that competitive spirit and having fun out there, I love to shoot the basketball. So that's a great place to kind of showcase that. And I have fun doing it. So I get to take this home with me. Q. When you put up 27 in the second round, did you know you had it? Or did you think Klay might make a run? STEPHEN CURRY: Klay Thompson is right behind me. No way. I knew I had done pretty well, obviously, finishing strong with that second round. But Klay, I looked in his eyes. He's obviously capable of 37 in a basketball quarter, so he can probably knock down a couple of threes and get a high number 27. So it was kind of cool for all of Dub Nation to have a 50/50 shot of one of us winning and bringing it back to the Bay Area. Pretty cool. Couldn't have planned that one any better. Q. You mentioned this morning you might check out some YouTube videos of past champions. Did you do that? And if you did, what did you notice? STEPHEN CURRY: I turned on NBA TV and they were going on the 20 top moments in NBA history. There was four or five of the three‑point contest. Most of the right‑handed shooters were grabbing from the right side. I wanted to set up the racks out there to be able to do that. It obviously worked. That might have been the secret of it. Q. Steph, did you end up making that bet with Klay? Are you aware of what happened with your shoes earlier today with them getting stolen or whatever? STEPHEN CURRY: No, we didn't make a bet, but we were kind of talking to each other out there and having a good time, egging each other on. I heard about it, but, you know, it's what it is. It's shoes. Q. What do you think it says about where this competition is elevated that somebody would try four times to win it? STEPHEN CURRY: I just might be crazy (laughter). That might be it. I'm here, so I guess I might as well shoot. I think this year was the one that was just the way the field kind of came together. Obviously Kyle Korver is having a crazy shooting year. Shooting 50%. Could be the first guy in history in the NBA to shoot 50 and 50 and 90. Obviously, Klay what he's able to do every single night. Wes Matthews is putting up crazy three‑point numbers. The defending champion Marco, Kyrie, who has won it before. James who hit some big threes. And we know what J.J. Redick can do. If you look at everyone individually it's pretty special to have all these guys out there shooting. And I wanted to be a part of that group. And thankfully I won. Q. There's a story that you planned to honor the shooting victims of North Carolina on your shoes. What prompted that? STEPHEN CURRY: I've been following the story all week. There's been a lot of supporters of him and his family, Deah and his family. Obviously having North Carolina roots, and once I got to know who Deah was as a person and the stories everybody was telling me, it only seemed right to honor him and his family, and hopefully they know that people are thinking about them. They're not alone, and hopefully it can give them some kind of peace and comfort knowing that he was a special guy. And I just did my little part to shed that light towards him. He had a couple of things where he did his wedding photo very similar to a magazine cover that I did. And he had wore No. 30 in the mural leagues and all that stuff. I had family members that met him playing pick‑up basketball, and they all spoke highly of him. Obviously it's a great platform to be on, but it only seemed right. Q. Do you ever use advance basketball statistics or analytics to help improve your shooting, either through the Warriors or through a personal coach, how Kevin Durant has hired a stats guy to help his shooting? STEPHEN CURRY: Not really. Most of it is kind of‑‑ I look at shooting charts to know where my hot and cold spots are, but mostly it's kind of just watching film and having a feel for the game. That's kind of how I learned the game and what I'm comfortable with. I know the analytics there's a lot of good things that go with it. But for me I don't want to cloud my head as a player with too many stats and ideas and information that may slow me down on the court. It's more just about having a feel for what I need to get better at. I know in the games if I'm going to my right‑‑ if I'm shooting terribly over the course of a season, there's usually a reason for it and I have to work on it. So it's kind of how I approach it. And it works for me. Q. Can you just talk briefly about how three‑point shooting in the NBA has become‑‑ it's just accelerated over the last few years and the importance of it in general. STEPHEN CURRY: Three is always better than two. If you have guys that can shoot it at a high level, I'm no math genius but somebody told me if you're shooting 45% or whatever at the rate of threes that I shoot in games, it's better than‑‑ what is it? Rusty, help me out. It's like if I shoot four or five threes and my percentage is what it is, it's better than shooting six or seven twos with a similar percentage. So it's kind of just having confidence to knock it down and not being afraid. Obviously you know the situation in games and times to score and things like that. You have to have confidence to shoot the ball, if you can. And teams have molded offenses to accentuate those talents. It's cool to see. Q. You're with your dad earlier today. When he left, did he say anything, give you any advice before the Three‑Point Shootout? STEPHEN CURRY: No, we were mad that Chris Bosh keeps knocking us out of the Shooting Stars Competition. He was worried about what my mom was going to say when he got back into the stands. She's tired of coming and seeing him lose. Q. Steph, while you were growing up, who was the three‑point shooter you looked up to, except for your father, of course? STEPHEN CURRY: Reggie Miller. Not just because he's here. That's a guy I always watched. The way he moved off the ball, and made big shots. His form is very unique. So I didn't want to emulate that, but just his talent level when it came to knocking down big shots, and just as a two guard, which is a position I played mostly growing up, I wanted to kind of be like him. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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