FIRST TAKE | Warriors irked as Rockets take aim at Steph Curry’s injured thumb – Stephen A. Smith

FIRST TAKE | Warriors irked as Rockets take aim at Steph Curry’s injured thumb – Stephen A. Smith

I believed in you. But guys, I got to get to the other game from last night. Please, can we talk about the Rockets? And the Warriors like they also played. Okay, the Rockets is still going 69% from the field in a 76-point first half to help them roll past the Warriors 13116 in game five. Balden State emptied their bench in the third quarter, which drew criticism, but the story was how the Rockets were defending the injured hand of Steph Curry. Let’s hear what everyone had to say about it. post game. Players all over the league um are just taking shots at guys uh shooting hands um after release because they know it’s not going to be a foul. And I’m very confident that next year the league will fix it because it’s only a matter of time before somebody, you know, breaks a thumb or breaks a hand or whatever. Um but this these these are the rules. If you’re going to come play the game injured or whenever you guys all about all about about the game, you know, if I had an injured ankle, I I would attack that ankle every single time. So, whatever they’re saying on the broadcast, they can keep saying it. I I I don’t Do you like love or hate Dylan’s comments? I love it. I mean, it’s basketball. What we I mean, first off, look, you know, Stephen A and I are supposed to play a one-on-one game. I heard him talk about his elbows hurting. I know. I’m attacking the elbows then. I know. No. Lot last year was the shoulder. I’m attacking the shoulder. When you whenever you hear about weaknesses that people have, you go at that. And with Steph Curry, look, we KP, excuse me if I’m wrong on this, but it’s always been in the game of basketball. I don’t know how you play, but I would assume where you’re from, we play similarly. If your hand is hurt, I’m breaking down on the ball. I’m sorry. Hand is part of the ball. You know what it is? Y’all know, in case you don’t know, I think that Steve Kerr is one of the top six greatest coaches in the history of basketball. I think he’s phenomenal. And I think he’s a good man, very conscientious, but sometimes this goody two shoes sanctimonious approach that he it really ras my nerves. All right. Like he’s so above the freight. This man is a champion. Champion in Chicago. champion is in in in in San Antonio. Champion is a coach in Golden State. He knows what comes with it. If you got a hurt thumb, hurt ankle, whatever whatever debilitating issue you have, it’s going to be attacked. Oh, maybe the legal fix. What do you mean the league’s fixing it? The man’s thumb is compromised on his shooting hand. The greatest shooter that ever lived might be compromised and somebody’s not going to try to exploit that style. Come on, man. Dylan Brooks. And Dylan Brooks, pay attention. Because Dylan Brooks is so accustomed to being a victim. He’s not realizing people agree with you. Dylan Brooks was absolutely right. You need to listen. We agree with you. Anybody that got a weakness, you’re going to attack it. All right. Before you jump in, would you stop trying to go one v one with him? You are number barely survived the motorcycle accident. Perk. It’s true. No, look. I’m with Dylan Brooks on this one. I’m with SA and Jay Will. Hey, listen. When you in the postseason, all bets off. I I said the same thing with the when the Celtics and the Magic just finished their series with Jason Tatum wrist. Every single time if I’m guarding him, but I got an opportunity, I’m swiping at that wrist. All things are in play at that point in time. Here’s another thing. Ask Steve Kerr, would he have said the same? I mean, Draymond does a lot of things. You know, don’t move the goal post when it’s not, you know, when it’s not your guy. go out there and win it. And this the last thing Steve Curry’s worried about the wrong damn thing. And I get it. Someone asked maybe asked him a question and he had to answer it. But how about going out there and coach? How about putting Steph Curry in position to be successful? How about taking them off the damn ball and letting them move the ball up for the series? I mean, they’re We’re not going to accuse Steve Cerr of not putting Steph Curry in positions to succeed. They didn’t come to play last night. You listen. Would you listen? Lord have mercy. Just I know you ain’t talking. Calm down. You don’t listen to finish. I’m I’m just saying I didn’t even get to finish. What I’m saying about this series that say all I’m saying is is that Steph Curry when he has the ball in his hands in this series trying to run pick and roll, it haven’t benefited the uh the Golden State Warriors. He hasn’t been successful in the pick and roll because Aean Thompson, Tar East, Dylan Brooks are so good and Stephen Adams and Shan goon trap so well they could move there. So what I’m saying is just like he did just like he did in game four. He made the adjustment and he had self play off the ball and we saw self erupt in the four in the second half of the game for a victory. That’s it. Calm down. Look at you picking the Rockets to win game six. The timelines. You picking the Rockets to win game six? I’m not. Okay. Okay. I got to go. Want to talk about your Knicks? The conversation left off where Stephen A was asking you, does LeBron deserve any of the blame for those two fourth quarters. I’m told you have 30 seconds. And Stephen A of all people is watching the clock. Burke. I apologize for him. Hell no. He don’t deserve blame. No blame. not at 40 years old having to play the center position going against Rudy, Julius Randall, Nas Reed, all those guys who are physical players in the paint. Hell no, he don’t deserve that. And then having to cover up for the lack of defense that Luca Danton plays, being the guy that’s anchoring the defense and have to guard everybody. Jay McDaniels went for uh 30 in game three and LeBron had to go guard him in game four. Like, come on, man. What we doing? I just want you to know that Perk made his point. It was profound. The delivery was excellent. And it was in about 25 seconds. Hey, that’s impressive. He got me. That’s impressive. He did it. Well done, brother. He damn sure don’t do that in any other show, but he just pulled it off. I ain’t mad at you, my brother. I want you to know that I believed in you. But guys, Warriors fans have seen this movie play out before. uh when they won their championship in 2022 in the second round, they were up 3-1 against a young upand cominging hard charging Memphis Grizzlies team. They went into Memphis in game five and got absolutely smoked. They were down 55 at one point in the third quarter, but the Warriors were not phased. They were not rattled. They went back home to Chase Center, took care of business, and closed out the Grizzlies. And Steve Ker said, “Yes, this does feel reminiscent of that year. Another young, hard, upand cominging charging team like the Houston Rockets.” And he knows that this team has championship pedigree with himself, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green. Yeah. And there was a point in this game where uh Steve Kerr put in the bench, and they were able to mount a little bit of a comeback, cutting it down to basically almost single digits. Did Kerr have any thoughts about bringing the starters back in? because we saw Steph Curry ask for his ankle bracelets back. Yeah. So, look, they were down 31, I believe, in the second quarter and at halftime. Steve Car asked Draymond Green, “What should we do? How long should we keep the starters in?” And he said, Draymond replied, “5 minutes. Give the starters 5 minutes. Let’s see if we can put a dent into this lead. And if not, we’ll pull the plug.” And that’s exactly what they did. And Steve Ker was asked, “Hey, was there any temptation to put the starters back in in the fourth when they got within 13?” And he said, “Absolutely not. That is not something you do. Although we did see Steph Curry call for his ankle braces and start to lace them back up, but he never put that thumb brace back on, I believe. So, basically, uh, that the starters were not going to come back in. Well, we know he would definitely lace them up on Friday for game six. So, what are the Warriors saying about that game? Yeah. So they basically talked about leaning on the experience of coming back and that from that Memphis debacle and winning game six. But of course Steph Curry said it’s good to talk about it and it’s good to know that we’ve done it before but you still have to do it. Now Draymond Green said we turned the page quickly. I saw him on the bench talking to Jimmy Butler, talking to assistant coaches. They were already trying to make defensive adjustments to what was happening to them in this game for the next game. And Jimmy Butler said look he’s overcome a three-0 lead. He he was up 3-0 at the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2023 against the Boston Celtics. They lost three straight after that, but then won game seven. This is something that Steve Kerr mentioned of saying, “Look, Jimmy’s been there too before.” And when I asked Jimmy about that, Jimmy said, “Our confidence hasn’t wavered one bit.” So, he knows that they’re a veteran team. He said they’re not shaking at all and they’re looking forward to game six and rebounding from tonight. Yeah, we cannot wait till that matchup. Um, it is hot out there. Find some air conditioning. Cool off. We appreciate you staying up late with us. [Music] Then Okay, man. Make sure you check Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Give me [Music] [Music] [Music] Thank to to to be Okay. Yeah.

FIRST TAKE | Warriors irked as Rockets take aim at Steph Curry’s injured thumb – Stephen A. Smith