Bulls’ former No. 2 pick lambasts Stephen A. Smith over absurd Steph Curry remarks
Stephen Curry reminded everybody of his greatness. He put on a show with a 52-point performance to beat the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, turning back the clock with an epic shooting night.
It led to fans and analysts debating about Curry's place in NBA history and Stephen A. Smith shared what an unnamed Hall of Famer allegedly told him.
On Wednesday's edition of "First Take," Smith claimed that a Hall of Famer told him that Curry wouldn't have thrived or averaged 17 points in his era because the players would've hurt him.
Former Chicago Bulls No. 2 draft pick Jay Williams called him out for spreading that narrative. Williams, who's also Smith's colleague at ESPN, wants him to either reveal his source or not contribute to that conversation.
"Stephen A., you’re too smart to keep pushing barbershop hearsay like it’s (a) fact," Williams said. "'A Hall of Famer told me Steph wouldn’t average more than 17'? C’mon. Name names or don’t bring it to the table. Steph Curry broke basketball. He didn’t just adapt to this era — he created it. So let’s stop using anonymous ghosts of the past to discredit the present."
Curry has changed the game and there's no realistic way to find out how he would've fared in another era.
Stephen Curry admits he wanted to break Klay Thompson's record
Steph Curry had one of the best games of his career in the win over the Grizzlies on Tuesday. Once he got hot, he admittedly thought he could've taken down Klay Thompson's record for the most 3-pointers in a single game.
The superstar guard finished the game with 12 3-pointers, two shy of Thompson's record. The Warriors needed each one of those points to get a nine-point win, and he made it clear that he didn't want to force things and chug threes for the sake of the record.
“That first two threes in the fourth quarter, I was definitely thinking about Klay, about Chicago, this is the closest I’ve been with that much time left," Curry said to reporters after the game. "But after that, reality check, we had to win the game, and we did."
That performance helped Curry pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the list of the most 40-point games (71), he's now No. 10 all-time and just one behind Kevin Durant.