Second Thoughts

Curry's spicy language gets Mom lecture

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry received a rebuke from his mother over his coarse language in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference finals on Sunday.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry received a rebuke from his mother over his coarse language in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference finals on Sunday.

Stephen Curry had quite the third quarter Sunday night in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference finals, scoring 18 of his game-high 35 points in the Warriors' 126-85 trouncing of the Rockets.

At one point, after leaving Houston's Trevor Ariza in the dust on his way to two of those points, he wanted to make sure everyone knew that Oracle Arena was, in fact, his bleepin' house.

It was a rare spasm of emotion from the usually even-keeled Curry, and he admitted after the game that he kind of got lost in the moment.

"I blacked out," he said, per ESPN's Chris Haynes.

That excuse didn't fly with Curry's mother, Sonya.

"She already sent me two home videos, showing me the clip and playing it back," Curry told Haynes. "She was telling me how I need to wash my mouth out, saying to wash it out with soap. It's a message I've heard before.

"She's right. "I gotta do better. I can't talk like that."

Curry has battled ankle and knee problems for a good chunk of the season and missed Golden State's first six games of the postseason. Then, in the first two games against the Rockets, he made just 2 of 13 three-point attempts and finished with 18 and 16 points, respectively. On Sunday, however, he shot 5 of 12 from three-point range (he made four of his final six attempts) and 13 of 23 overall, sparking the Warriors to an easy victory.

"A lot of it was just [me] talking to myself, almost like you've got to be your biggest fan sometimes," Curry said.

He's a flamethrower

St. Louis Cardinals rookie reliever Jordan Hicks added 2 mph Sunday to what was already a 103-mph sinker. His manager and teammates -- along with the rest of the baseball world -- were asking how was that possible after the 21-year-old twice eclipsed 105 mph with his fastball in Sunday's 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Hicks pointed to the batter's box for the answer.

"Odubel just takes forever to get in the box," Hicks said, referencing Phillies center fielder Odubel Herrera. "It amps me up a little bit. So I bring it against him."

The five pitches Hicks fired to Herrera in a ninth inning at-bat Sunday were the five fastest pitches of the 2018 season thrown by any pitcher, per Statcast. In doing so, Hicks eclipsed Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman as the game's hardest thrower this season. He and Chapman are the only pitchers to hit 105 mph since pitch tracking began in 2008.

The scoreboard readings had Hicks' teammates clamoring in the dugout.

"You see 105 up there. That doesn't happen. I don't know what the exact mph was, but we're all wondering if it was 105 point, or where on 105 it was," said starter Jack Flaherty. "I wish I could throw 105."

Hicks broke training camp with a reputation of hitting 102 with his sinker, which runs down and arm-side and, thanks to his age and power arm, can disobey him at times. Saturday he touched 103 mph -- also against Herrera.

Hicks has thrown his seven hardest pitches of the season against Herrera.

"It was my first time facing a guy like that," Herrera said. "I had never faced someone throwing 104, 105 miles an hour. But I felt good because I was able to see pitches."

Sports on 05/22/2018

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