Warriors’ star Steph Curry was featured in national headlines on Thursday night after Golden State’s loss to the Boston Celtics, and it wasn’t just because of Curry’s unusually poor play.
While the Warriors’ point guard scored just nine points in his team’s 92-88 defeat, Curry drew media attention from around the country when he said it was “very, very likely” the Celtics would wind up playing Golden State in the 2018 NBA Finals.
Of course, the “very, very likely,” part of the quote was picked up and tossed around, but Curry’s full quote offered much more context regarding the reality of the Celtics’ situation in the Eastern Conference.
After Thursday’s game, Curry said, “It’s very, very likely, right? They’re playing the best right now in the East and obviously until they beat Cleveland, whose done it three years in a row, so we’ll see, but I hear the weather is great here in June.”
The respect Curry showed toward Cleveland and LeBron James’ Cavaliers didn’t exactly translate to headlines, and Curry caught some heat for what some perceived as a slight toward the reigning Eastern Conference champions. Curry was frustrated with the way the media twisted his words, and after Saturday’s victory over Philadelphia, he explained why.
Steph Curry was frustrated that his "very likely" quote about the Celtics was taken out of context and went viral the other night pic.twitter.com/bm5ujDAL7G
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 19, 2017
“That’s hot takes. You can literally take one line I say and say, ‘very, very likely,” Curry said. “But read the whole comment. I hate when that happens. I stand up here and talk for 45 seconds about that question and you want to take five words and put the Boston Celtics in the Finals. It’s crazy, it’s the hype beast. I’ll be more specific next time with how I see the future of who’s going to be in the Finals, even us, whatever.”
Curry admitted he was frustrated the quote was taken out of context, and elaborated about why he felt his comments were misinterpreted.
“It was obviously a question about Boston’s chances and how well they’ve been playing. I literally said they have to beat Cleveland because Cleveland’s been there three times in a row and obviously I made a joke, I haven’t been to Boston in the summer in awhile. It’s probably nice weather, but the video is going crazy so watch the whole video, watch the whole comment and you’ll get it right.”