Young recalls Steph’s epic shimmy on Kobe in Warriors-Lakers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Even NBA legends fall victim to Steph Curry’s signature shimmy celebration.
That’s exactly what happened to the late great Kobe Bryant during a Los Angeles Lakers vs. Warriors game during the 2014-15 season, as former NBA guard Nick Young recently recalled on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast.
“I remember Kobe liked to do some extra motivation stuff. We were playing against the Warriors and Steph was just killing us,” Young recalled. “We came back in the locker room and Kobe was like, ‘I got him. I figured him out. I finally figured him out.’ Saying it out loud. Saying, ‘I’m guarding him.’ We turn to Jeremy Lin, because Jeremy Lin was getting killed. ‘Don’t nobody guard him, I got him. I figured him out.’
“Chef started doing the shimmy on Kobe! S–t, it’s hard to figure somebody like that out.”
“Kobe said ‘I finally figured [Steph] out. I got him I am guarding him.’”
Nick Young recounts the time Kobe tried to lock up Steph Curry 🤣 pic.twitter.com/eCT3VwAVrv
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) November 14, 2024
The shimmy, of course, is just one of Curry’s many iconic celebrations he whips out after a big 3-pointer or one of his lethal flurries.
But even one of the greats couldn’t contain the Warriors superstar that night — or that season, really, when Curry won his first NBA MVP award after averaging 23.8 points on 48.7-percent shooting from the field and 44.3 percent from beyond the arc, with 4.3 rebounds, 7.7 assists and two rebounds in 80 games.
Curry was age 26, while Bryant was 36 in his 19th NBA season, just one year before his final season in the league before retiring.
But there were no signs of Father Time for the Hall of Famer, who still averaged 22.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists in 34.5 minutes that season.
And while Bryant, the Lakers and the rest of the league came to quickly learn: there is no stopping Steph Curry, but Young applauded Bryant’s efforts in slowing him down.
“He did do a better job than Jeremy Lin, I ain’t going to lie,” Young said. “But Steph did bring out the shimmy on him. I’m like, ‘Kobe, you 36, 37 right now. he’s [26].’ He did shut him down a little bit, he shut his water down.”