Each and every one of Steph Curry’s awe-inspiring shots like his "Double Bang" game-winner against the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016 or his "Golden Dagger" at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics to win gold for Team USA feels like an out-of-body experience for fans watching him take shooting a basketball to parts unknown. And then, you remember Curry’s relentless routine and work ethic have him prepared for these kinds of moments.
Curry practices every shot imaginable. Off balance. On the run. Right hand. Left hand. Unfathomable distances. The Warriors superstar is prepared for any possibility.
In a different, newly-formed way, Curry also made sure he was ready to tackle the one thing missing from his storied résumé: Wearing gold around his neck on the Olympic podium as the national anthem played.
“I envisioned the moment the entire time,” Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area on the latest "Dubs Talk" episode. “That was part of the mindfulness meditation that I was going through.”
Leading the comeback against Serbia and running around the court with his signature ‘Night Night’ celebration against France looked like his latest physical marvels from afar. The real deciding factor might have been a mental skill that Curry has recently turned to.
Yes, even Curry gets nervous. It’s a natural feeling, even for the all-time greats. For him, he sees those butterflies as a combination of performance anxiety and the extremely high expectations he places upon himself. Curry already has forever changed an NBA franchise and he certainly knew what was at stake for himself, his coach in Steve Kerr and the rest of Team USA if they didn’t get the job done.
But this time, he didn’t have a seven-game series to figure out a defense and adjust.
Golden State Warriors
The Olympics were a call back of sorts to when Curry first burst onto the national stage, drowning in his Davidson jersey and opening our eyes to what was to come in the next two decades. Basketball would never be the same. Once he and Team USA graduated from group play at the Olympics, they found themselves in an amplified March Madness situation – one and done, no second chances.
“The comeback against Serbia and the gold medal game, the type of nerves and adrenaline that's going on, I had to multiple times kind of in my head envision that exact environment you're talking about: Standing on the podium, all of us wearing the same gear, seeing the flag go up and the national anthem playing. I tried to envision that. It almost manifested in a way.
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"You kind of embrace the stakes that you're up against and I think that was a good way to go about that process."
Curry’s commitment to his craft has turned legendary. His pregame routine alone could fill arenas and have fans flock to pay the price of admission. How long has visualization been part of his regiment, though?
“Very recently,” he said.
The hundreds of players in the NBA all have the same goal every season, even if the odds favor some better than others. All 82 regular-season games are built towards that goal of winning a championship, something Curry has done four times with the Warriors.
He also has learned that the six-month regular season, plus a two-month playoff run, can drive you crazy if you’re amped up trying to reach out and grab the Larry O’Brien trophy every day. The day-to-day process has to be welcomed.
Even the great unknown.
That’s where Curry’s continued work of breathing, mindfulness and visualization becomes an asset that can’t be rattled.
“Breathing and all that mindfulness that helps you calm your nerves, I've done a lot more of that later in my career,” Curry says. “A lot of that comes from knowing how your body responds in the heat of the battle and the emotions of it all. You kind of want to get ahead of that.
“When you're young you're just flying by the seat of your pants. You're out there just hoopin'. It's a very different experience now. Both are very fun for different reasons."
His left arm linked to Anthony Edwards as The Star-Spangled Banner was heard through the loudspeakers of Bercy Arena – Curry saw it before anybody else. Doing so saved Team USA men’s basketball.
Who knows what Curry will conjure in his mind next? The wait will be worth the next iconic call that follows.
