Shots in the dark: Warriors work in Miami with lights out
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) reacts after hitting a 3-point basket during the second half of Game 4 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series against the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans, Saturday, April 25, 2015. AP
MIAMI, United States — Golden State really can shoot the lights out.
Or at least with the lights out.
The last 15 minutes or so of the Warriors’ game-day shootaround practice in Miami on Sunday went on despite all the lights in the arena’s bowl being out. Some of the lights on the concourse were visible, but the floor was dark.
Undeterred, the Warriors kept shooting. And because they’re the Warriors, they made plenty.
“That is a first,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “Nice little, I guess, test of muscle memory. You can somewhat see the rim, know where you are on the floor, but it’s kind of a different experience because you don’t get it every day. So that’s pretty cool.”
The lights went out toward the end of the session, when coach Steve Kerr was addressing reporters and the Warriors were doing shooting drills mainly from the 3-point line. Some of the Warriors yelled in mock anger. There was at least one stretch where a group on one end of the court made eight 3-pointers in a row despite the challenged visibility.
The power didn’t fail: The Warriors’ sound system kept working, blaring Miami-centric tunes like Gloria Estefan’s “Conga” and Trick Daddy’s “Take It To Da House.”
“You need your eyes to be able to get a sense of perception,” Curry said. “But you don’t necessarily need to see the rim in HD, full, spotlight-type situation to knock it down.”
A couple of players were done by the time the lights went out, including Kevin Durant.
“Luckily, the lights cut off right after I got done, so I was good,” Durant said. “But I’ve shot in the dark plenty of times before.”
The start of a Heat-Pacers game at Miami in 2016 was delayed 27 minutes because the lights were not working.
It wasn’t immediately known why the lights went out Sunday, and the Warriors didn’t seem to think anything peculiar or some sort of gamesmanship was happening. Heat players went through their shootaround earlier Sunday in the upstairs practice facility, not on the game floor that visiting teams typically use on game days in Miami.
They didn’t know the Warriors were working out in the dark until afterward.
“The way they shoot, I don’t think it matters,” Heat veteran Udonis Haslem said. /cbb
