Young recalls Steph’s epic shimmy on Kobe in Warriors-Lakers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Even NBA legends fall victim to Steph Curry’s signature shimmy-fest.
That’s exactly what happened to the late great Kobe Bryant during a Los Angeles Lakers-Warriors game during the 2014-2015 season, as former NBA guard Nick Young recently recalled on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast.
“I remember Kobe liked to do some extra motivation stuff. We were playing the Warriors and Steph was just killing us,” Young recalled. “We came back to the locker room and Kobe said, ‘I got him. I discovered him. I finally discovered him.’ I say it out loud. ‘I’m guarding him.’ We turn to Jeremy Lin, because Jeremy Lin was killed. “Nobody’s guarding him, I got him.”
“The chef started shimmying Kobe!” S–t, it’s hard to figure out someone like that.’
“Kobe said, ‘I finally figured it out [Steph] out. I have it, I’m guarding it. ”
Nick Young talks about the time Kobe tried to lock up Steph Curry 🤣 pic.twitter.com/eCT3VwAVrv
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) November 14, 2024
The shimmy, of course, is just one of Curry’s many iconic celebrations that he pulls off after a big three-pointer or one of his deadly flurries.
But even one of the greats couldn’t contain the Warriors superstar that night — or that season, for that matter, as Curry won his first NBA MVP award after averaging 23.8 points on 48.7 percent shooting from the field and 44.3 percent from beyond the arc. , with 4.3 rebounds, 7.7 assists and two rebounds in 80 games.
Curry was 26 years old, while Bryant was 36 in his 19th NBA season, just a year before his final season in the league before retiring.
But there were no signs of Father Time for the Hall of Famer, who still averaged 22.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists in 34.5 minutes that season.
And while Bryant, the Lakers and the rest of the league quickly found out: Steph Curry is unstoppable, Young applauded Bryant’s efforts to slow him down.
“He’s done better than Jeremy Lin, I’m not going to lie,” Young said. “But Steph did inform him. I thought, ‘Kobe, you’re 36, 37 now. He is [26].’ He kind of shut him off, he shut off his water.”
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