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The Only Man Who Can Stop Steph
只有一個人可以守住Curry，他叫KD

It's March 15, and Stephen Curry is hard at work in his laboratory, firing
shots at the basket tucked in the corner of Golden State's practice facility.
Steph's hoop has been a constant since 2012, back when he lived in a loft on
the same block as the facility. Curry might change shoes at halftime if his
shot is errant, but he's never changing baskets.

The hoop is on the fifth floor of the pinkish-beige downtown Oakland
Marriott, resting above the city's attached, unassuming strip of a convention
center. Atop the beige box sits a panopticon where media and visitors stare
at the efforts of a man too focused on the rim to notice. It's a window into
the drudgery that informs the fireworks. He's sprinting through his shooting
routine with purpose, having made 25.8 percent of his 3s over his past eight
games. No matter who you are, that's not good. If you're Steph Curry, who hit
45.4 percent of his 3s last season, it's awful. SportVU tracking data says
Steph has missed 28 of his past 35 "wide open" 3-pointers. He's searching.

He's also singing.

"I am not throwing away my ... shot," Steph belts out, followed by the whoosh
of leather hitting twine. "I am not throwing away my ... shot." Another swish.

Curry has just seen Hamilton in San Francisco. Not having known much about it
going in, he was entranced by the production and has since embraced "My Shot"
as an anthem ("for obvious reasons," Steph explains with a smile).

Hamilton uses "shot" as a metaphor for opportunity. And there the parallels
between man and musical end. Alexander Hamilton, or at least the stage
version of him, is a selfish jerk whose arrogant undoing causes his wife to
belt, "I hope that you burn." Meanwhile, Curry might lead the league in
G-rated, adorable portrayals of his marriage on social media. But while he
has little in common with the Hamilton of Hamilton, after a night at the
Orpheum Theatre with his wife, Ayesha, he's feeling an ambitious ode to
reclaiming what's his.

Curry really is nice. Ask anyone in the organization. Ask anyone who's had
multiple interactions with him. As Draymond Green often says of his teammate,
"It's not a front." If "nice" is Steph's brand, it's a brand buoyed by
authenticity.

In many ways, nice built this team. It's allowed Steph to delegate powers to
others who, fortunately, have used those powers well. It's allowed him to
focus on improving himself, while leaving others to do the kinds of jobs that
augment his efforts. It's allowed the Warriors to fire Mark Jackson, against
Curry's wishes. And it allowed the team to make its biggest, boldest move of
all: force the very nice man who resurrected the franchise to marginalize
himself -- and like it.
就各種方面，這是一個很棒的隊伍。它讓Curry可以把他的力量下放給能夠幸運使用這些
力量的隊友。它讓他可以專注在加強自己，並讓其他人來強化他的努力。它讓勇士把
Mark Jackson炒了，即使Curry不願意。而它甚至讓球隊做出最大膽的動作：強迫一個享
受特權的好人去把他自己邊緣化，並且喜歡這件事。


THE MIAMI SUPERTEAM was born out of the deep friendship between LeBron James
and Dwyane Wade. It was a bottom-up coup -- one, some would hazard, that
began brewing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when they won gold for Team USA.
The Kevin Durant-era Warriors began differently. It wasn't two superstars
turning their friendship into a working relationship. Golden State's Durant
liaison was, in fact, Green, not Curry.
邁阿密這隻超級強隊是建在姆斯以及wade深厚的情誼上。KD的勇士則有不同的起源。它不
是由兩個超級巨星的私交變成工作夥伴，KD的閏密，事實上，是嘴綠而不是Curry。

By most accounts, Curry gets along with Durant just fine. But according to
team sources, the Warriors had to approach Steph and ask him to join the
recruitment last summer. And he did. Ever the good soldier, Steph abandoned
his Under Armour basketball camp, located in Hawaii, to hop on a plane and
fly to New York's Hamptons. As The Undefeated's Marc Spears reported,
"According to a person who saw the text messages, Curry told Durant in a text
message that he could care less about who is the face of the franchise, who
gets the most recognition or who sells the most shoes (Curry is with Under
Armour, Durant with Nike)."


Curry's renouncement of shoe sales came at a curious time. A season earlier,
he had been asked after practice whether he wanted the best-selling shoe in
the country. "Of course," he responded. But last summer, his sneaker brand
was in serious need of a rebound. The 2016 Finals saw his kicks roasted on
social media before he and his team suffered an ignominious flameout. Under
Armour sensed this opportunity and unveiled the slogan for its preseason ad
for Steph: "Make That Old."
Curry的放棄賣鞋聲明出現在很有趣的時間。上一年，他說他想要最賣座的鞋子。

To make anything "old," though, Curry needed control of the narrative. And
with Durant coming to town, he would have no such authorial power. Once
Durant did arrive, he didn't exactly take it easy on the Curry brand either,
telling The Ringer's Bill Simmons that Curry's maligned, bone-white Chef
Curry 2s "were bad."

Today, if you look down at the floor during a Golden State practice or game,
you'll notice that the most commonly worn shoe on the team is Kevin Durant's
KD 9. There's a reason for this, beyond the shoe's inherent appeal. In
training camp, Nike sent a shipment to every player on the roster. And while
the Curry-Durant dynamic is cooperative on the floor, off the floor it's
conquest. Nike, quite logically, wants to destroy Curry's brand and does not
mind using Durant as a proxy. Or as Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted over
the summer, "For Nike, this is a coup: It wanted to slow Under Armour's
momentum with Steph Curry and Warriors. Now, KD promises to impact Curry's
star."


This tweet has been prophecy.
這就像是一個預言


IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, and while Durant is having his game of the year -- 36
points, 15 rebounds -- Curry is having one of his worst, ending the day with
15 points on 4-for-11 shooting. It also happens to be the most viewed game of
the season. On the final six possessions, Curry touches the ball twice: once
to simply hand off the ball for a play run by Green, the other, a swished
3-pointer by Curry that came from the ether of transition. Otherwise, in the
half court, Steph is merely a decoy, a screen setter.
聖誕節，KD拿了36分15板。Curry只有15分，11投4中。這最後六個球權，Curry只有碰到
球兩次

On the final defensive possession, after having guarded Cleveland's Kyrie
Irving well the play before, Curry is benched for the longer Shaun
Livingston. As Irving hits the game winner, Curry's head is in his hands.
在最後一波球權，Curry被冰在板凳。Curry雙手抱頭。

After the game, coach Steve Kerr criticizes Curry's decision-making. "I think
he can be a little smarter, I think he can make better decisions, and that'll
help against anybody," Kerr says. "I'm not worried about him missing shots;
I'm more worried about just decision-making and making sure that we're where
we need to be as a group."

Later, Curry takes to the interview room and is asked whether he was
frustrated by the benching. "Yeah," he starts, followed by a smile and a
snort. On the Curry scale, this is DEFCON 3-level subversion. (On the
Draymond Green scale, it's just Tuesday.)
之後，Curry被問到被冰是否很沮喪：沒錯。

The smile fades as Curry returns to safe mode. "It's his call, obviously,"
Curry says. "But you'd love -- the competitive nature, you want to be out
there to try to make a play. So that'll never die in me."
之後Curry回答回到安全牌。

At the team's next practice, Curry tells the media he wants more
pick-and-rolls in Kerr's offensive scheme (DEFCON 2). Curry had long bought
into Kerr's off-ball-movement offense, the one they'd both ridden to a
championship, but it was no secret he had grown weary of its costs this
season. Curry was happy to leverage his shooting ability to free teammates up
with screens (thus his massive plus-minus numbers in a less-than-dazzling
season). But even team-first Steph has his limits.
在球隊下一次的練習，Curry要求打更多的擋拆。Curry原本很相信Kerr的無球攻擊。
Curry原本很高興可以利用他的投射能力來拉開球友空間。但球隊至上的curry忍耐也是有
極限的。

It's a fairly common battle between coach and perimeter superstar (see:
LeBron James vs. Erik Spoelstra in Miami): The superstar wants the control
that pick-and-rolls afford, the coach wants a more sustainable method. Still,
Kerr has reason to avoid the pick-and-roll beyond a stubborn adherence to
philosophy: Both of his superstars wish to be the ball handler in
pick-and-rolls, and Durant's screening ability leaves much to be desired. So
for Kerr to go heavy on pick-and-roll is to marginalize one of his
superstars. Kerr's solution thus far? To simply run fewer pick-and-rolls.


AFTER CHRISTMAS, KERR acts like a man who has gotten the message. He
readjusts the offense, running more pick-and-rolls, which coincides with a
Steph surge. The downside? Durant hits an uncommon snag in the first three
games of February, a regular kind of NBA dip but an unusual one for a man so
accustomed to controlling the offense. In a game in Sacramento, Durant goes
2-for-10 as Green screams at him. "Kevin looked tired tonight," Kerr says
after the game. "I think he was out of gas. He's been so incredible all year,
been so efficient. He's allowed to have one of those." When asked whether
Kerr was correct about fatigue, Durant says no: "Me? I wasn't tired. ... I
was trying to make the right play, but sometimes you just gotta break it off
and go score."
聖誕節後，Kerr表現的像是收到了訊息，他開始讓球隊打更多的擋拆。唯一的問題，就是
KD在二月前三場比賽表現落賽。

Then the pendulum swings back. Over five games, from Feb. 8 to 15, Curry
slumps his way into the All-Star break, and Durant gets rolling again. Curry
shoots just 25 percent from deep, his usage dipping from 28.4 percent for the
season to 25.8. Durant's usage rises to 30.7 percent as he averages 25 points
at a 67.1 percent true shooting rate. The KD-Steph dynamic is proving to be
less complementary than expected -- less a symbiosis than a seesaw.


It's likely no coincidence, then, that Curry's best stretch of the season
comes while Durant is rehabbing his injured left knee. At first, Curry and
the Warriors sputter in Durant's absence, dropping five of seven. But in what
would become a win during this stretch, a Warriors triumph at Madison Square
Garden, ABC mics pick up Kerr trying to encourage Curry out of his slump:
"Here's what I'm going to show you. That's your shooting totals [3-for-13 at
the time]. That's your plus/minus [plus-15 at the time]," Kerr says, seated
next to Curry on the bench. "All right. So it's not always tied together.
You're doing great stuff out there. The tempo is so different when you're out
there. Everything you generate for us is so positive. It shows up here. Not
always there, but it always shows up here. You're doing great. Carry on, my
son."
沒有意外的，Curry在KD受傷的時候大爆發。

Then something funny happens. After Curry belts those lines from "My Shot,"
his Warriors begin singing a different tune. Over the next 13 games, he goes
on to average 27.5 points on 52.1 percent from the field and 50.4 percent
from 3 (on 9.9 attempts per game), to go along with 8.2 assists. It is the
Steph of old.

predicted it. "He will shoot better tonight," it read, followed by his
reasons. Payne had met with Curry and they'd worked on posture and how it
relates to Curry's follow-through. By influence or coincidence, he bursts out
of his slump that evening. It begins with Curry's old 2015 Finals muse and
antagonist, Matthew Dellavedova. Steph puts the ball between his legs,
lurches at Delly, leaps back and cans a quarter-ending 3. It's the kind of
isolation magic that's been missing, the sort of improvisational jazz that
had been both mesmerizing and routine before Curry was focused on
incorporating another superstar. Later, with 30 seconds left in the half,
Steph makes the return official when he eagerly sprints into and launches a
3-pointer with his heel on the half-court logo. Swish. Steph hunches over and
duck-walks away from his creation. As one does. He'll finish with six 3s in
only three quarters of play.

"I think Steph catered to the whole theme of pleasing," Bruce Fraser, the
Warriors-appointed shooting coach, would later say. "He wanted to please. He
catered to the whole, took less for himself. The irony in this season so far
is that we had to learn how to play with KD, had to learn how to play without
him. And both of those were challenges."

BACK ON JAN. 17, the Warriors are breaking ground on the Chase Center. The
team, for years a nonentity in glitzy San Francisco compared with the beloved
Giants, is building a modern arena in, as it's termed in the real estate
community, "the last good piece of land in San Francisco." Three hundred
South St. in Mission Bay is the sweet spot -- proximity to the Financial
District, proximity to public transportation and the Giants' AT&T Park, plus
the booming surrounding area. A San Francisco developer can't expand north;
there are simply too many existing structures. Expanding west is unwise;
there's a dearth of public transportation. The Chase Center popped up in the
only place that makes sense, a spot that happens to be adjacent to the Bay
Area's hottest startups. It is perhaps the most coveted open land in America.
1/17 勇士新主場Chase center的破土典禮

Curry, a Chase endorser, is not in attendance. His agent, Jeff Austin,
assures that Curry was offered the opportunity but declined due to a busy
schedule. Instead, it's Durant on the stage, primed to grab a golden shovel.
Of his absence, Curry would later say, "We had a day off, and KD stepped up
and took my place."
Curry，Chase的贊助球員，沒有辦法參加。但KD出現了，幫Curry剪彩

This is a San Francisco event of the highest order, the poshest of the posh,
the rare midday Bay Area party at which attire is formal. Billionaires are in
attendance. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is here. Former mayors Willie
Brown and Gavin Newsom are as well. And while Curry is not in attendance,
Austin is, and he's one seat away from Golden State general manager Bob
Myers. The man between Myers and Austin is Rich Kleiman, Durant's agent and a
now-ubiquitous figure in the halls of Oracle Arena.

Warriors owner Joe Lacob is happy. This is the apotheosis of what he wanted,
the kind of validation that matters in this town, his town. After discussing
the "ordeal" of getting this done, he acknowledges those who made it
possible. He thanks Chase Bank. He thanks San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. He
thanks "all the agencies that had an impact." Various architecture firms are
name-checked. Finally, he looks toward Kevin Durant. "Thank you, Kevin," he
says.
勇士老闆感謝了一堆人，最後他感謝了KD

Steph Curry, the Warriors' two-time MVP, the man who in many ways made all of
this possible, goes unthanked.
Curry，兩屆MVP，因為他而使這個球場被建造，卻沒被感謝到。

IT'S MARCH 14, the day before Curry's shootaround sing-along, and Steph is
celebrating his 29th birthday. He and the Warriors have already celebrated
it, in the sense that they got to beat the woeful 76ers. Now, after the game,
they've blessed the occasion with a cake in the locker room, the confection
burnished with an Under Armour logo and icing forged into the form of his
trademark mouthguard, next to a pi symbol. Steph's birthday is 3.14.

It's a geeky math joke. Steph's always had an affinity for math. He possesses
a knack for recalling the geometry of a play, explaining where everyone was
and where they were supposed to be. Otherwise, he's a reticent man, his
monotone languidly strolling along, avoiding matters of controversy like a
low-speed Roomba ambling away from sharp objects. "You can hear him boring
himself," San Francisco Chronicle writer Rusty Simmons used to say of Curry's
interview technique.

Now, after the beating of the 76ers in circumstances too close for comfort,
106-104, Curry prepares for another drone-fest. He didn't have his best game,
shooting 8-of-23. Still, he's had worse outings.

It's then that Lacob enters the locker room and enthusiastically
congratulates Green on a performance -- 20 points, 9 boards, 8 assists --
that saved the team from disaster. Lacob, whom the Warriors did not make
available to comment for this story, fancies himself something of a Draymond
figure, full of brash energy, never one to mince words. In a talk given at
his old venture capital firm, Lacob gushed of Green's pitch to Durant,
"Draymond Green started off hard sell, and he was great. He gave the heavy
pitch, which no one else there would have done, except for me, because I'm
basically the Draymond Green of the business side." It's rare that Lacob will
enter the locker room after a game, but when he does, he's almost certain to
pay a visit to Green.

Then Lacob ambles over to Curry. Lacob rarely praises his best player, at
least in public. If their relationship were a marriage, it would be best
described as cold. "Happy birthday," he begins, his tone somber. "I know it
wasn't the best of nights for you." Lacob says it loudly, in front of
reporters milling about, a hand extended toward Curry.

Whatever you think of Joe Lacob, none of this -- four All-Stars on the
roster, the championship, 73 wins, the highest TV ratings for national and
local games -- existed before he got here. On Nov. 12, 2010, when Lacob
officially took over, the Warriors were an NBA backwater, a no-go zone where
functional basketball went to disappear. That's what happens when a team
makes the postseason six times over a 33-season stretch. So it's difficult to
exaggerate Lacob's run of success as an owner so far. He's an organization
man, someone who constantly seeks credit for the various layers of Golden
State's operation that fans can't see. Maybe that's why Lacob would later
tell The New York Times Magazine that when it came to Golden State's success,
"It's not just Steph Curry."
勇士老闆對時代雜誌說：勇士隊的成功不只是因為Curry

"It's not just Steph Curry." The comment isn't actually that ridiculous, in a
vacuum. It's a true statement, albeit a curious one, in lieu of what Curry
made possible. It's not just Steph Curry, but without Steph Curry, it also
simply isn't.
雖然這句話沒錯，但沒有Curry，勇士連成功的機會都沒有

It goes beyond the brilliant play and organization-bolstering equanimity off
the court. Due in part to previous ankle injuries, Curry is the biggest
bargain in sports thanks to the four-year, $44 million contract he signed in
2012 coming off season-ending surgery. It's the deal that set the table for
everything else, a superstar at a super discount that allowed the Warriors to
shore up the roster and profit in ways no other team could.
因為Curry那張4年4400萬的便宜合約，勇士得以得到一堆好球員。

STEPH CURRY HAS his own take on things, and it might well differ from yours.
He's outside the visitors locker room in Houston, still sweating after a
practice in which Durant returned to the fold. It's humid and oddly empty at
the Toyota Center event level, especially considering the cacophony of fans
and autograph seekers that usually follows this man. It's late March in the
season in which Curry led the league in plus/minus (plus-1,015) but was a
nonfactor in the MVP debate, his statistics dwarfed by one-man offenses in
Oklahoma City and Houston. It was the season in which he experienced declines
in points, assists, rebounds, steals, 3-pointers, free throws and every major
shooting percentage. It was the season in which Under Armour stock, of which
Curry owns a significant amount, dropped precipitously in November on the
news that his latest shoe was badly underselling. Now was the time to ask the
question that dare not ask its name. What was his take on a year in which he
was no longer an immortal?

"The way everybody phrases this is crazy," he starts. "It's crazy to me. It's
like a conundrum. I'm playing well. Obviously I set the bar really high."

It's unusual to hear Curry, an obsessive perfectionist, be this complimentary
of his own game. There's palpable disbelief in his voice, as though he's
seeing something that should be obvious to all. "At the end of the day, if
I've learned anything, it's what happens next."



心得：Curry真的是低調又可憐，引狼入室。UA的球鞋銷量也不符合預期...
好險KD受了傷，真的要感謝Zaza

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