SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Intensive care unit nurse Shelby Delaney has depended on Stephen Curry's “I Can Do All Things” go-to motivational verse so many times over the years. Those words from the Bible are written inside the No. 30 jersey of Curry's that she has worn beneath her scrubs day after day to get through each daunting moment of the pandemic. Now, she has another incredible option: Curry took the game-worn uniform off his back Sunday night after scoring 37 points in a win over Sacramento, signed it and gave it to this extra-special essential worker. He then scurried down the tunnel shirtless heading to the locker room. Delaney's husband, Robert Crowley, threw his hands in the air urging fans to cheer. “So cool. He’s an incredible human being,” Delaney said afterward. “One of the greatest nights of my life hands down.” Last spring, Curry made a FaceTime video call to Delaney and her colleagues at Oakland’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center after learning she was wearing his uniform.... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Intensive care unit nurse Shelby Delaney has depended on Stephen Curry's “I Can Do All Things” go-to motivational verse so many times over the years. Those words from the Bible are written inside the No. 30 jersey of Curry's that she has worn beneath her scrubs day after day to get through each daunting moment of the pandemic. Now, she has another incredible option: Curry took the game-worn uniform off his back Sunday night after scoring 37 points in win over Sacramento, signed it and gave it to this extra-special essential worker. He then scurried down the tunnel shirtless heading to the locker room. Delaney's husband, Robert Crowley, threw his hands in the air urging fans to cheer. “So cool. He’s an incredible human being,” Delaney said afterward. “One of the greatest nights of my life hands down.” Last spring, Curry made a FaceTime video call to Delaney and her colleagues at Oakland’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center after learning she was wearing his uniform. “That... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Intensive care unit nurse Shelby Delaney has depended on Stephen Curry's “I Can Do All Things” go-to motivational verse so many times over the years. Those words from the Bible are written inside the No. 30 jersey of Curry's that she has worn beneath her scrubs day after day to get through each daunting moment of the pandemic. Now, she has another incredible option: Curry took the game-worn uniform off his back Sunday night after scoring 37 points in win over Sacramento, signed it and gave it to this extra-special essential worker. He then scurried down the tunnel shirtless heading to the locker room. Her husband, Robert Crowley, threw his hands in the air urging fans to cheer. “So cool. He’s an incredible human being,” Delaney said afterward. “One of the greatest nights of my life hands down.” Last spring, Curry made a FaceTime video call to Delaney and her colleagues at Oakland’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center after learning she was wearing his uniform. Delaney... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Shelby Delaney, an intensive care unit nurse, has depended on Stephen Curry's “I Can Do All Things” catchphrase so many times over the years. It is written inside the No. 30 jersey of Curry's that she has worn beneath her scrubs day after day to get through each daunting moment of the pandemic. Last spring, Curry made a FaceTime video call to Delaney and her colleagues at Oakland’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center after learning she was wearing his uniform. Delaney had it on again Sunday night — with that handwritten ‘I Can Do All Things’ on the inside of the neckline — as she and husband Robert Crowley sat on the floor for Golden State’s game against Sacramento. A season ticket holder at Chase Center who couldn’t attend gifted them the seats. “I’d always dreamed of talking to him, mostly to thank him, because he really has made such an impact on my life and how I carry myself,” said Delaney, a former high school basketball player who later did some coaching. “It kind... [More]

Never. That’s the last time the NBA saw a shooting stretch like the one Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors has assembled over the past few weeks. It’s been 45 years since the last instance of an NBA MVP being selected from a team that wasn’t at least 10 games over the .500 mark, but Curry has shot his way into serious consideration. He’s averaging 31.4 points on 49% shooting this season; the only other season in which he averaged more than 30 points was 2015-16, when he averaged 30.1 on 50% shooting — and was the unanimous MVP. Those Warriors were 73-9. These Warriors are 29-29. That’s the big difference, the biggest reason why Curry isn’t even more prevalent in the MVP talks. “He’s never played any better, that’s for sure,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s been incredible to watch.” Bob Pettit and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the only players to win MVP awards on teams that had winning percentages below .560. The award typically goes to the best player on a team that finishes high... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Victor Oladipo got swept out of the first round of the playoffs last season by Miami, and when that series concluded he had no doubt the Heat would end up in the NBA Finals. He was right. And now, he’s got a chance to help them make this season’s playoff push. Oladipo has been an offseason Miami resident, and now, he’s finally an in-season one as well. He started in his Heat debut Thursday night, helping Miami get over the .500 mark with a 116-109 win over the Golden State Warriors. “He’s a veteran guy, he’s played in good programs on good teams, so he knows how to fit in,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I think defensively, it’s extremely natural, the fit. And offensively, he gives us that downhill attack, another guy that can make plays, another guy that can put pressure on opposing defenses in the paint.” It’s a fit that has been a long time coming. Oladipo is close with Miami legend Dwayne Wade — Oladipo played at Indiana for Tom Crean, Wade’s coach at Marquette — and... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Golden State Warriors rookie big man James Wiseman missed a mandatory COVID-19 test during All-Star break weekend and had to be held out of practice when the team reconvened Wednesday night — and coach Steve Kerr called it “disappointing.” Wiseman's status remained unclear for a road game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night. The No. 2 overall draft pick last year out of Memphis, Wiseman is averaging 11.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 20.8 minutes. “It was a mistake. He just forgot," Kerr said. "So it’s disappointing because he could have used the practice tonight. We need him out there. So it’s disappointing that he made the mistake.” Wiseman, who turns 20 on March 31, stayed in San Francisco during the break, according to Kerr. The NBA alerted the Warriors on Wednesday the rookie center couldn’t practice. Stephen Curry hopes Wiseman will use this a valuable learning opportunity. The two-time MVP saw the 7-foot center earlier Wednesday. “It's what you have... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Defense wins championships is one of the oldest clichés in sports. It’s mostly been true, too. Now, even coaches who preached defense before look around an NBA where the pace is quicker, the shots come from deeper, and can come to only one conclusion. “It seems like offense wins,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. That’s what the Brooklyn Nets are looking to prove with an NBA title. Perhaps no team has ever packed so much offensive punch. Kevin Durant is a four-time NBA scoring champion. James Harden has won three. They’ve both been league MVPs. Kyrie Irving is a perennial All-Star who hit the winning shot to cap the biggest NBA Finals comeback ever. “You look at Kyrie, Durant, Harden. (Spencer) Dinwiddie’s out, he’s a terrific player. He’s an All-Star-caliber talent,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “So, they’re up there with the best of them.” Stopping one is possible. Stopping two is doable. Stopping all three the four times it would require to beat Brooklyn in a series... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Durant is back on the court, just in time to go back to the Bay Area. Durant rejoined the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, a day ahead of his return to the place where Stephen Curry said the Warriors played “some of the best basketball l think the world has ever seen” when Durant was one of them. “That was an amazing three years of a moment in time,” Curry said. Now in his first season playing for the Nets, Durant is set to resume what's been a stop-and-start season for the star forward. He has missed three games for coronavirus health and safety protocol reasons, facing a mandatory seven-day quarantine after being a close contact of a team employee who tested positive for the virus. Golden State's players were certainly planning on him to play. The trouble started in a bizarre and frustrating night for Durant and the Nets against Toronto last Friday. Durant was told he couldn't start the game shortly before tipoff, then was cleared to enter in the first quarter, resulting... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Durant is back on the court, just in time to go back to the Bay Area. Durant rejoined the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, a day ahead of his return to the place where Stephen Curry said the Warriors played “some of the best basketball l think the world has ever seen” when Durant was one of them. “That was an amazing three years of a moment in time,” Curry said. Now in his first season playing for the Nets, Durant is set to resume what's been a stop-and-start season for the star forward. He has missed three games for coronavirus health and safety protocol reasons, facing a mandatory seven-day quarantine after being a close contact of a team employee who tested positive for the virus. The trouble started in a bizarre and frustrating night for Durant and the Nets against Toronto last Friday. Durant was told he couldn't start the game shortly before tipoff, then was cleared to enter in the first quarter, resulting in his first appearance off the bench in his 867-game career.... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Golden State Warriors rookie James Wiseman will be sidelined more than a week with a sprained left wrist that the 7-foot center injured against Detroit on Saturday. “It’s a concern any time you lose anybody for any stretch of time, especially a guy that is in the rotation, but we'll figure it out,” guard Stephen Curry said. “Injuries are obviously part of every season, no matter when they come. You've just got to be able to adjust.” Wiseman landed on his wrist when he was bumped coming down from a dunk off an alley-oop pass by Draymond Green with 6:21 remaining in the third quarter of the 118-91 rout of the Pistons but kept playing. Wiseman had an MRI exam on Sunday, coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s a bummer but at least it’s not anything worse and he should be back in 10 days or so,” Kerr said. The big man, who came off the bench the past four games as Kerr switched up his starting lineup, is wearing a brace and scheduled to be re-evaluated in a week to 10 days. Veteran... [More]

Marveling once again, Stephen Curry made 105 straight 3-pointers from the same baseline spot to finish practice Saturday leading into Golden State's game Sunday game at Chicago. The Warriors said they captured the final 103 on video at the Bulls' practice facility. Curry's shots were counted by his longtime shooting man, assistant Bruce Fraser, and coach Steve Kerr only heard about his shooting star afterward. Curry finally missed, then pumped his arms and yelled in delight. “I think his previous record was 77. That’s insane,” Kerr said. “I don't know if the Guinness Book of World Records still exists. That was one of my favorite books growing up. If it still exists that should go in the book, because we have video evidence now apparently.” You bet, two-time MVP Curry can still dazzle day after day at age 32 and at the start of his 12th NBA season. With his next made 3, Curry will have 2,500 for his career — joining only Ray Allen and Reggie Miller to reach that mark. “It was SO amazing... [More]

Marveling once again, Stephen Curry made 105 straight 3-pointers to finish practice Saturday leading into Golden State's game Sunday game at Chicago. The Warriors said they captured the final 103 on video at the Bulls' practice facility. Curry's shots were counted by his longtime shooting man, assistant Bruce Fraser, and coach Steve Kerr only heard about his shooting star afterward. “I think his previous record was 77. That’s insane,” Kerr said. “I don't know if the Guinness Book of World Records still exists. That was one of my favorite books growing up. If it still exists that should go in the book, because we have video evidence now apparently.” You bet, two-time MVP Curry can still marvel day after day at age 32 and at the start of his 12th NBA season. With his next made 3, Curry will have 2,500 for his career — joining only Ray Allen and Reggie Miller to reach that mark. “It was SO amazing — 105 3s in a row,” Fraser said via text message. “I knew it could be special around 30. Just... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Stephen Curry wants to play until he's 40, perhaps even beyond. And he wants it to be with the Golden State Warriors the entire way. Curry said discussions have begun with the team about a contract extension and he is “fully committed.” The two-time NBA MVP signed a $201 million, five-year contract in July 2017 that initially was the richest ever, until James Harden topped it with a $228 million extension from the Rockets. “Everything's on the table right now,” Curry said. “... It’s a matter of just letting things kind of play out the way that they should. That's kind of where we're at right now.” The 32-year-old Curry is entering his 12th NBA season — and he always aimed to play 16 years in the league, just like father Dell did. “That was always the goal,” Curry said Monday on a Zoom call with reporters following the first day of training camp. “Now it's just more so listen to your body. Who knows. You can't predict the future. I've always said I want to play as long... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Bob Myers called Stephen Curry to break the devastating news that Klay Thompson had torn his Achilles and would miss another season. Silence on the other end. Myers, the Golden State general manager, made the same call to Draymond Green. Again, only quiet. Thompson tore his right Achilles tendon playing in a pickup game Wednesday and had an MRI exam Thursday in Los Angeles that revealed the severity of the injury that typically requires surgery. Right after Thompson worked himself back from knee surgery in early July 2019, now this, another year on the sideline. The Warriors aren’t ready to say what the next steps are for Thompson until they know more. “What hurts the most — and speaking on behalf of Klay, we will move on and we will be OK and he will be OK — but what hurts the most is the time we put into our jobs, the sacrifices we make to do what we do and to do what he does," Myers said. “And for him to have to now not be able to play basketball, that’s the pain.... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson has suffered a torn right Achilles tendon and is expected to miss the upcoming season, the team said Thursday. The team said in a tweet that an MRI performed in Los Angeles had confirmed the injury. Thompson was injured during a pickup game in Southern California on Wednesday. General manager Bob Myers had said athletic trainers would head to Southern California to accompany Thompson as he got his test. The injury could be a severe blow for the Warriors, who finished worst in the NBA last season as they struggled without Thompson and at times without Stephen Curry, who was nursing a broken left hand that sidelined him for more than four months. Thompson didn’t play at all during the coronavirus-shortened season as he worked back from surgery for a torn ACL in his left knee. He suffered that injury in the deciding Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors. Myers said Thompson’s injury had Golden State considering altering its draft decisions Wednesday night but the Warriors stuck with their plan to select Memphis center James Wiseman with the No. 2 overall selection. ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Bob Myers hears the chatter about everything riding on Golden State's draft pick at No. 2 overall. About all the pressure on his shoulders to find just the right player to join Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, star forward Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins. Someone who will make an instant impact and immediately help the Warriors return to contention and respectability following a last-place finish. All the social media speculation, oh yes, the Warriors' general manager is aware of the intrigue. Might they possibly trade away their pick for flexibility to build another super team, or will they choose to use it? “I read all that stuff, too. I was like, ‘I feel the weight,’” Myers joked on a recent Zoom call. "I feel like every year, everything you do is make-or-break, trade, draft, I don’t know. But you can’t really think like that. You’ve got to operate not out of fear. So, hopefully we get it right, and if you don’t, you deal with that. That’s the life... [More]

The Houston Rockets and Stephen Silas have an agreement for the Dallas assistant to replace Mike D'Antoni as coach, multiple people with knowledge of the deal said Wednesday. The hiring of the son of former NBA player and coach Paul Silas completes a significant change in the leadership of the team with the league's longest active playoff streak after Daryl Morey decided not to return as general manager following D'Antoni's departure. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made. The new combination of coach and general manager comes after eight straight trips to the playoffs for the Rockets, all since acquiring James Harden in an offseason trade with Oklahoma City in 2012. Morey was the architect of those rosters, and D'Antoni led the Rockets to a franchise-record 65 wins in 2017-18 before a Game 7 loss to Golden State in the Western Conference finals. The Warriors swept Cleveland to win the title. Houston recorded 50-win seasons... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Golden State Warriors expect to have a better idea about how Klay Thompson’s recovery from reconstructive left knee surgery is going once the team can finally reconvene after the long separation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.For now, general manager Bob Myers is encouraged Thompson has experienced no setbacks during the extensive rehabilitation process.“I think we’ve got to take a look at him when we see him," Myers said Monday on a conference call. “There’s different versions of 100% — 100% for you or I when we walk around the street is not 100% of an NBA basketball player playing basketball. So until we kind of test him and see him and he’s starting one-on-one and then two-on-two — and obviously the pandemic has not allowed him that opportunity to do those type of things.” Thompson tore the ACL in his left knee on June 13 during Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors and had surgery July 2. He was reevaluated over the All-Star break and the... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — After reaching five straight NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors couldn't have foreseen such a strange, disappointing season as they debuted their snazzy new Chase Center in San Francisco.The Warriors had the worst record in the NBA at 15-50 with a roster of largely unknowns taking the court night after night.Kevin Durant had departed. Klay Thompson sat out recovering from surgery for a torn left knee ligament sustained in Game 6 of last year's finals against champion Toronto. Stephen Curry broke his left hand. Andrew Wiggins arrived and never got to showcase his star talent alongside the team's top rotation before pro sports were halted because of the coronavirus pandemic.Steve Kerr's coaching got tested like never before as he relied on rookies and young players to learn on the fly because that's all Golden State had available.Then the Warriors were one of the teams left out when the NBA’s Board of Governors approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season... [More]