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Golden State Warriors’ All-Star Steph Curry has a pre-game shooting routine that’s known across the league and even considered legendary by others. One of the most lethal shooters in NBA history is very distinct regarding his warmups and in-game shooting attempts from almost anywhere in the stadium, and I mean this in the most literal sense.
After every pre-game warm-up, Curry finishes with a shot that seems almost impossible: a nearly 50-foot drain from the stadium tunnel. This isn’t a shot that he could possibly make during games, but it’s worth the fun and showing off his amazing shot. On Saturday, before the Warriors tipped off their preseason against the Denver Nuggets at Chase Center, Steph Curry broke out a new variation of this pregame shot from the tunnel.
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Steph Curry’s New Pregame Shot
During his career in Oracle Arena, Curry mastered his pregame tunnel shot which evolved into a Bay Area fan favorite. But this season Curry has fiddled with this pregame shot to make it even more unbelievable. Instead of shooting from the tunnel on the floor, before Saturday’s preseason matchup, Curry took it a step further and drained a shot from a level of the stands.
Due to COVID-19, which has caused two of the Warriors’ star players to be missing the preseason, fans are not allowed to attend the preseason games at Chase Center. The only individuals allowed in the arena are team members, staff, and reporters who tested negative for the virus.
About an hour before Saturday’s preseason opener, Curry was fed the ball from someone who was already out of bounds of the court and sunk in an arch from the tunnel opening. Like he expected the shot to go in the whole time, he darted through the tunnel and returned, but this time in the stands.
From the first row of the already elevated stands, the Warriors point guard floated an incredibly difficult shot from a different angle that simply swished right through the net like it was nothing.
Curry’s Calls Shot ‘A Tough Act to Follow’
In a post-game interview per 95.7 The Game on Twitter, Curry simply deemed the incredible shot as a “tough act to follow.”
Steph on his pregame shot 😂 pic.twitter.com/McUgcc6Voc
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) December 13, 2020
“That stuff just kind of comes to you,” said Curry. “I don’t know — it was good adrenaline, good mojo. It’s going to be a tough act to follow, though, don’t get your hopes up.”
Curry followed up the shot with an in-game performance of 10 points shooting 3 of 10 from the field. This was in addition to three assists and two steals in his 21 minutes of the preseason kickoff where Golden State defeated the Nuggets 107 to 105.
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Curry missed the majority of last season, only playing three regular-season games due to a broken hand injury. The Warriors moved to their new arena last season so the alteration of his pregame shot seems fitting.
The absences of fans might also play a role in this newly long-distance shot. The point guard probably couldn’t travel too far into the stands without Warriors fans bombarding him. So the star is reaping the benefits of the absence of fans by pushing his limits.