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Steph Curry returns to his former home as one of NBA's biggest stars

Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry, centre left, stands alongside Chinese former NBA player Yao Ming as they coach a team during an NBA Cares Special Olympics unified basketball game during NBA All-Star weekend in Toronto on Saturday, February 13, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Original Publication Date February 13, 2016 - 2:15 PM

TORONTO - The video footage tugs at the heart strings. Steph Curry is 11 or 12 years old, and shooting hoops on the floor of the Air Canada Centre like he owns the place. He launches a ridiculously long shot and it drops through the hoop. As if there was any doubt.

The reigning NBA MVP, now 27, is back in Toronto as one of the game's biggest stars, and speaks fondly of the city and arena in which he once spent long hours working on that inexplicable shot.

"I love the people and I love the city, so much love this weekend," Curry said. "Whenever people find out I used to live here, they always ask me how it is. Nothing but the greatest of things to say about the city, they love basketball, pretty sure it's a proud moment to have all-star weekend here."

Curry finished runner-up to his Golden State Warriors teammate Klay Thompson in the three-point shootout on All-Star Saturday night. Curry was the defending champion, but almost failed to get through the first round. But true to form, he drilled a clutch shot at the buzzer to the roar of the star-studded Air Canada Centre crowd.

Thompson won the final 27-23.

"You know, he's the best shooter I've ever seen, so this is a rare occurrence that he loses," said Thompson. "So I'm just happy I caught him on an off night."

Curry will suit up for the Western Conference team for Sunday's 65th all-star game, the first time the NBA's annual festivities have been held outside the United States. It's a homecoming of sorts for Curry, who lived in Toronto for the three seasons —1999-2002 — when his dad Dell played for the Raptors.

"Oh for sure (I feel nostalgic), especially when you get into the Air Canada Centre and it's the same staff that used to work there in 2002 when my dad retired, same ushers, crew in the background, so a lot of familiar faces," Curry said. "Driving through the city, remember some of the places we used to hang out as a kid, think I was Grade 8 at the time.

"Never in a million years would we have thought that I'd be able to bring my family back as an all-star to Toronto."

The East and West teams held open practices at Ricoh Coliseum on Saturday, and when the West capped theirs with an entertaining half-court shooting contest, no surprise Curry was the star of the show. The points guard — who Steve Nash recently called "maybe as skilled a player as we've ever had in this game" — hit two in a row.

Several dozen journalists squeezed in around Curry for the post-practice media availability. The only scrum bigger belonged to retiring superstar Kobe Bryant.

When Curry slipped into a chair a few feet away from Thompson, reporters abandoned Thompson as if he had the plague.

Asked what he remembers about basketball in Toronto, Curry said "Just watching my dad play.

"I remember a lot of his career, so watching him with Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Alvin Williams, Antonio Davis, all sorts of guys that he played with, Toronto was a great basketball city. Obviously hockey, the Maple Leafs and all that, took precedence, but that was a fun time."

Curry leads the league in scoring, and is on pace to be the first guard to win back-to-back MVP honours since Nash did it in 2005-06. He leads a Warriors team that is a league-leading 48-4 on the season, and on pace to beat the Chicago Bulls' record of 72-10 set in 1995-96.

Raptors guard Kyle Lowry is among players around the league marvelling at their success.

"Of course, it's unbelievable," Lowry said. "I mean everyone is just like 'Are they going to get the record?' I don't know what their mentality is, but we're all watching it as fans."

Curry played for the Queensway Christian College Saints in his Toronto days. He told a story about his parents benching him for a game because he hadn't finished his chores.

"Four dirty dishes," Curry said. "I didn't do them. I went to school and had to tell my team, 'Hey guys, I can't play tonight.' Because there were four dirty dish plates in the sink and I didn't get it done.

"There are priorities in life and I learned that lesson really quick. Basketball is a privilege. It can be taken away," said Curry.

He was asked Saturday about Bryant, who's playing his final all-star game. Will he pass Kobe the ball on the game's last possession?

"He might have to come steal it out of my hands," Curry laughed. "We joked about it a little bit, I said I'm going to need 20 assists off of him. But it's really hard to kind of know how the game's going to flow and who's going to get the most shots throughout the course of the game. Like any other basketball we play, you just kind of feel the moment, and the situation, and act accordingly. The story will write itself. I'm sure he'll get a nice farewell."

A young journalist asked Curry if he had any advice for teenagers.

He thought for a moment before saying "Find what your passionate about, and once you do, you have to work tirelessly at whatever skillset you need, mindset, to be successful at that.

"Once you find it, hold onto it. There's probably people, mentors who have done whatever it is before you, and so (it's about) being coachable in that field, and giving it your all, not being afraid of failure. And never look back."

News from © The Canadian Press, 2016
The Canadian Press

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