SLEEP TRAIN ARENA, SACRAMENTO, CA — With about a minute left in the first half, as the Golden State Warriors were busy playing their season opener against the Sacramento Kings, the San Francisco Giants‘ Madison Bumgarner was busy closing out the Kansas City Royals.
The fans at Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena, predominantly also fans of the Giants, cheered as the baseball game was nearing its close, virtually ignoring the play on the hardwood in front of them.
“It was very hard to focus in the second quarter, when the Giants were sealing up their championship,” Warriors point guard Stephen Curry said, “That was an interesting five or ten minutes.”
With about 35 seconds left in the Warriors-Kings first half, Giants outfielder Juan Perez misplayed a liner by Alex Gordon that eventually got kicked into the warning track, ending up with Gordon on third base with two outs.
A small minority of the Giants-supporting Sacramento crowd at Sleep Train Arena let out a collective scream.
“I’m getting the story now as I’m hearing it,” Curry said in the Warriors locker room after the game, “There was a single that turned into a triple and that was like the first one. I looked up, didn’t really know what was going on. Half the people that were in the section turned around looking at the suites. I thought there was a fight at first in the stands. Then you kind of find people’s eyes from the bench where they’re looking at.”
Curry, who we found out during the summer in Las Vegas grew up as a Boston Red Sox fan, has been supportive of the Bay Area’s sports franchises.
“You want to see your neighbors do well. Just makes the whole Bay Area kind of come alive,” Curry said, “So we want to kinda follow their lead.”
With about 19 seconds to go in the quarter, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called on Shaun Livingston to sub out Curry, to avoid Curry picking up another personal foul.
“I actually told Coach Kerr this after: I saw a glimpse Bumgarner’s last pitch — that pop up — while I was at the end of the bench.”
What?!?!
“How the hell did you see that?” Curry was asked.
“I’ve got 20/20 vision. Up at the suite box, I could see the TV,” Curry answered, matter-of-factly, “Obviously, a great win for them, but a weird atmosphere.”
It was Curry who told LetsGoWarriors that Bumgarner hails from Hickory, North Carolina, which is just about sixty miles from Curry’s hometown of Charlotte, so they share some background.
“He’s a machine,” Curry said of the Giants’ ace and fellow Carolina-born star.
Steph sees you, Mad-Bum. Literally.
[Click here for the Instagram video of this interview and here for the full one on Facebook.]EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: #StephenCurry saw #MadisonBumgarner's last pitch
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