Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors reacts against the Memphis Grizzlies during the third quarter in Game Five of the 2022 NBA Playoffs Western Conference Semifinals on May 11.
Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesAfter Steph Curry decided to reference the Grizzlies’ rally song during some pregame trash talk, Memphis fans were more than happy to throw it right back in his face in the fourth quarter of the team’s 134-95 blowout win over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday .
Curry told ESPN that the gameplan for Game 5 against the Grizzlies was “whoop that trick,” referencing the song that plays to hype up the Memphis crowd during home games. With the Grizzlies up 40 points in the fourth quarter, the song came on in the arena and, naturally, everyone got super excited to sing and dance along. So much so that even Draymond Green got in on the fun.
the guy who really enjoyed chanting “whoop that trick” was the leader of the team’s dance crew who, with a microphone in his hand, approached Curry — long removed from the game at this point — to cheer in front of him.
Curry and Green seemed to take it in good fun, with the Warriors forward jokingly dancing along and waving his towel around. Maybe someone could argue that the guy with the microphone was a bit overeager, but it’s hard to imagine a person getting that kind of job while having a knack for keeping their composure during exciting sports moments.
This was always the potential issue with Curry’s pregame comments: Sure, he didn’t expect to see his team quite nearly on the receiving end of an all-time playoff blowout, but when you poke the bear (no pun intended), bad things can happen.
At least Curry and the Dubs will get their next opportunity to close out the series on Friday at 7 pm at home. Maybe then, Curry’s pregame words won’t come back to haunt the team.