NBA players find motivation — in the form of doubters or feeling dismissed — around every corner. They build up straw men when they can’t find those critics.
Or, they just turn to Twitter.
On his Rogue Bogues podcast, Andrew Bogut said if Stephen Curry had a bad half he would read Twitter in the locker room to find the haters and fire himself up (hat tip CBS Sports).
That’s brilliant. I love the image of Curry sitting at his locker at halftime of Game 6 of the 2019 NBA second-round series against Houston, when Curry had not scored, and just scrolling through Twitter mentions on his phone getting mad. Steve Kerr would be yammering on about adjustments and drawing something up on the whiteboard, and Curry was ignoring him and just staring at his phone. Then Curry came out and scored 33 in the second half and eliminated the Rockets.
Curry doesn’t lack for confidence, but some nights you need that extra fuel — and Twitter is filled with fools willing to say anything as a “hot take” to get attention. LeBron James has haters on Twitter, as do Kawhi Leonard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, and on and on down the list of the game’s biggest stars.
Curry has Twitter haters too, and he knows how to use them.
