Steph Curry drops Luka Doncic — and finds his joy

SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry dribbled through his legs and then jabbed hard to his left, sending Luka Doncic flying onto the ground. Curry stepped back, seemingly stunned that the closest defender to him was on his butt. He swished a 3-pointer.

Curry put both hands over his head. He shimmied his shoulders.

It was poetry. It was vintage Curry. It was the embodiment of joy.

“I didn’t expect it to get that nasty,” Curry said in his postgame interview with Amazon Prime Video after the Warriors’ 112-95 win over the Lakers. “It was one of those [moments] you kind of got to keep your composure. I remember James Harden used to do the shimmy to get himself open back in the day. I don’t know. I haven’t been that open in a long time.”

Doncic was still on the ground as Curry elevated midway through the third quarter. The league’s leading scorer was dropped by the greatest shooter of all time. Curry is still him.

The Warriors have now won three games in a row, including turning a 25-point deficit into a 17-point lead on Friday. They’re finding their groove. They’re fueled by Curry’s joy and a sprinkle of something new: his palpable acceptance that this isn’t going to last forever.

He’s engaging the crowd. He’s putting on a show. He’s savoring this.

“I just love this game,” Curry said. “All my mannerisms are all over the place because I’m just having fun. In those moments, especially at this stage of your career, you’re just appreciative of the ability to keep playing at this level. And I want that joy to continue until I’m done.”

We’re seeing glimmers of what Warriors basketball was at its peak. It comes in spurts, such as in last season’s play-in win over the Clippers when Curry went into a flow state, scoring 35 points, and Draymond Green transformed into a full-blown defensive beast, holding Kawhi Leonard to two points in the fourth quarter.

Curry breaking Doncic’s ankles was another example of that. It was a master at his craft making us all shake our heads and smile. It was the type of moment that will be memorialized.

When Curry is having fun, we’re having fun.

And when he’s having fun, the Warriors are dangerous.

They’ve turned things around following a sluggish 0-3 start to the season. Against the Lakers, Curry had 31 points, including going 8-for-14 from deep. That performance followed a 44-point, eight-rebound, six-assist stunner in the Warriors’ 119-114 win over the Timberwolves on Wednesday.

Curry is the master of the show. But the team is getting contributions from everywhere.

Yaxel Lendeborg is putting on a Rookie of the Year campaign, though he had a quiet six points and one rebound in his much-hyped showdown against Doncic following their trash talk in the teams’ season opener on Oct. 21. On a night in which Lendeborg was a nonfactor, the Warriors’ bench outscored the Lakers’ reserves, 50-7.

… Making things even more interesting: Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody will return in a few months. Could the Warriors actually be good?

Everyone had counted them out, something Curry rejected.

When a reporter asked Curry on Warriors media day about the team not being expected to make the playoffs, he balked. “That’s how bad? Not make the playoffs? It went from championship to —.” Curry then put his hands up and uttered a few lighthearted “damns” as he walked out of the room.

At the time, his reaction was funny. But, hey, maybe we erroneously overlooked the Warriors. Maybe we erroneously overlooked him.

The runner’s knee that caused the 38-year-old to miss 27 straight games last season is looking bionic. He’s shining. He’s refusing to accept the reality that he’s aging or the narrative that the league’s modern-day dynasty that won four championships in eight years from 2015-2022 is flailing.

When Curry is on, he’s still the best show in the league.

Lendeborg didn’t hesitate when asked to describe Curry’s play on Friday.

“The stuff he was shooting and making, it was just like what are you doing?” Lendeborg said. “How are you even doing that? The people on the bench call him a sicko. I don’t even know. It was astonishing. Dude doesn’t get tired. He dribbles like that all day and doesn’t get tired.”

When Lendeborg was asked to rank Curry’s ankle-breaker against Doncic on his all-time list, he smiled.

“For me, especially, I’m going to put that at No. 2 just because of the severity of the moment and how bad we needed some energy,” he said. “It was amazing to watch.”

As for No. 1?

“Oh, fudge,” Lendeborg said. “Hold on. I can’t even say it. You guys know, man. It was on the other side.”

Lendeborg was likely referring to Kyrie Irving, whom he has made clear was his favorite player growing up.

But now he’s playing with one of the league’s all-time greats.

And Lendeborg — and everyone else who watches Curry — is left stunned regularly.

It has been that way for the last decade. And even though he’s about to turn 39, that hasn’t changed.

If anything, what we’re witnessing keeps getting more and more incredible.