THE ANNALS OF ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Here’s a couple anecdotes we have about Stephen Curry‘s two-year-old daughter, Riley Curry, not only from Tuesday night after Game 1, but also earlier this season, plus a compilation of the chatter.
To summarize, Riley had a good warm-up that night! No surprise she stole the show.
PRE-GAME
First off, Riley’s not a rookie:
RT @nbadleague: Riley Curry developed her interview-bombing skills back in January with Uncle Seth…. pic.twitter.com/rLaowPALdA
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) May 21, 2015
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As for Tuesday night, we’ll let Al Saracevic of the San Francisco Chronicle set the stage:
And that’s where I found Ayesha Curry — with Riley on her lap — after Tuesday night’s game. Stephen Curry’s adorable young family was waiting for him in the hallway outside the locker room, sitting on the cold floor. Ayesha, who is expecting another child, looked tired but happy. Riley was restless.
.
“So this is the glamorous NBA lifestyle, huh?” I asked Mrs. Curry, who laughed and smiled.
.
“Yeah, right? Not so glamorous sometimes,” she answered. Shortly after, a Warriors staffer rushed over and got her a chair.
.
Inside, Stephen Curry was trying to grab a quick bite to eat before doing his obligatory media session. A PR man approached the NBA’s MVP and delivered a message: “Your daughter is getting antsy out there. She wants to see you.” Curry nodded and ducked in for some food.
.
A few minutes later, he emerged and reunited with his daughter. She wanted to be with her daddy, so he took his daughter to work.
“Riley gave me the look like, ‘I’m going with you.’ She wasn’t taking no for an answer,” dad Steph later recounted at yesterday’s media availability, as Antonio Gonzalez reported.
In the locker room, having Riley there wasn’t anything new, nor was her causing a (cute little adorable) disturbance.
After all, one game earlier this season, former Golden State Warriors assistant coach Darren Erman left as an inside joke a bunch of pennies for several players, including Steph, in their lockers.
The pennies stayed in those lockers for more than that game.
After one of those future games, Riley was the locker having her way with the pennies. No, it wasn’t Smaug, the dragon from The Hobbit, clinking and clanking all that metal from across the way, it was little Riley.
Probably not a sound you often hear in an NBA locker room.
After another game in March, Riley was chillaxin’ in Steph’s locker during the post-game questions and ended up stealing dad’s bobblehead from the locker of Harrison Barnes, which is next to Steph’s. She put it back, though.
And on Tuesday night, Riley played with Barnes’ Aeron Herman Miller chair while waiting for dad to get ready to leave for the press conference.
“Eeny miney mo,” was her pre-game routine on this night, swinging Barnes’ chair back and forth on its swivel, skipping the “meeny” to the delight of Warriors PR staff (okay, and me), and repeating it probably as many times as Steph tried the tunnel shot a few hours earlier.
Then, pointing to a bobblehead of Andre Iguodala sitting in Barnes’ locker, Riley said, “Draymond.”
“No, that’s Andre,” said dad.
Riley, of course, insisted it was Draymond, and dad tried again to correct her.
Yesterday, I asked my own daughter if she could read parts of words when she was two, and she confirmed that small words like “mom” and “dad” were certainly within the realm of possibility. So my guess is, Riley recognized the letters “D” and “R” in “Andre” and made that connection to “Draymond” (Green).
Well, I could go on and on about what makes two-year-old daughters adorable. In any case, Steph and Riley headed to the press conference after that.
Game on!
GAME RECAP
- Our at-the-scene video clip (we didn’t capture the part where she stormed out of the room).
- Either a big yawn or helping dad endorse DegreeMen with “A Cleaner Feel!”
- Curry: “I thought she was going to fall off the stage once she started going underneath the table. I’m trying to answer questions to feel around to make sure she’s kind of within arm’s reach. My family was in the family room down the corner, and they were just watching the whole thing dying laughing.”
I thought the same thing when Riley had decided she had enough. In fact, I watched her walk right by me with her forehead a little crinkled up in frustration of not finding her mom. And yes, as her little fingers went to try and pry open the conference room doors to exit, Warriors head of security Ralph Walker was indeed there to assist and escort her back.
- Riley Shines As Game MVP, by Sarah Todd, SFBay.ca
POST-GAME REACTIONS
- ““She was just waving to reporters. That’s just the way she is. She knows what’s happening. She knew she was on the stage and she knew people were talking to her daddy and she’s on his lap and she’s just like ‘Hey, how’s everybody?’ That’s just the way she is.”” — Tess Quinlan, USA Today
- “If you’re reading this, Riley Curry is the MVP”
RT @badaznboy22: @cruzkontrol already gave to @StephenCurry30pic.twitter.com/Enm1dwFiJM
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) May 20, 2015
- “Like father, like daughter.” — @Oceandeeep
RT @iAMgoldenstate: RT @schmeevee: Currys taking over the WORLD RT @oceandeeep: Like father, like daughter… pic.twitter.com/7IIdU5R9hr
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) May 20, 2015
- “Just a beautiful performance from the Curry family last night. Couldn’t be more proud of them.” — Justin Taylor, @MadeInGoldenSt
RT @MadeInGoldenSt: Just a beautiful performance from the Curry family last night. Couldn't be more proud of them. pic.twitter.com/EQymKkHJgn
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) May 20, 2015
- “When a reporter tells you that some folks on Twitter had a problem with you bringing your daughter to the podium” — J.A. Adande, ESPN
- ESPN personalities sound off on Riley Curry: Sportz is serious business, no kids allowed, by Steve Berman, BayAreaSportsGuy.com
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via Poor Man’s Commish)
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