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Stephen Curry's mouthguard spit fake might make you do a spit take

Dan Devine
Senior NBA writer

For years now, Stephen Curry has been playing fast and loose with his mouthguard. (Sometimes, a little too loose.) To the best of my recollection, though, I’ve never seen the two-time reigning NBA Most Valuable Player flat-out lose his Chiclet-protector in mid-stride during a game … which makes sense, because I’d definitely never seen what came after that happened early in the third quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ Thursday night visit to Barclays Center to take on the Brooklyn Nets:

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Did … did this dude just did this?

Yep, he did: he spit out his mouthguard mid-dribble, caught it with his left hand without looking, then shoveled a pass over to Kevin Durant for a drive and a layup. I think it’s fair to say that those high-tech ball-handling drills that Steph uses to tighten up his dribble have had a positive effect on his reflexes. Jeez, man.

Curry’s sleight of hand came as the Warriors were shaking off a dismal first half against the Nets, one that saw them manage just 16 second-quarter points on 8-for-28 shooting and sent them into intermission down 65-49 to one of the worst teams in the NBA. They, um, got it together after that, opening the third on a 12-0 run — the mouthpiece-catch-to-Durant-dime was part of that — and outscoring Brooklyn 39-19 in the frame to restore order en route to a 117-101 victory. Durant led the way with 26 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, three steals and a block. Klay Thompson added 23 points (5-for-10 from 3-point range) to go with five rebounds, four steals and two assists. Curry struggled to get his shot to fall (6-for-19 from the floor, 3-for-13 from 3) but chipped in seven assists, five steals … and one of the coolest, weirdest plays we’ve seen in a minute.

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Playing without defensive ace Draymond Green, who missed the game due to the birth of his son, Draymond Jr., the Warriors defense allowed Brooklyn to score 65 first-half points on 48 percent shooting with nine 3-pointers. They cranked up the defensive pressure considerably after halftime, which head coach Steve Kerr chalked up to renewed focus, according to Anthony Slater of the Bay Area News Group:

“Just our overall attention span,” Steve Kerr said. “The millennials struggled in the first half. But they locked in in the second half, put their phones down and started to defend.” […]

The Warriors had 14 steals in the second half. Brooklyn had 18 of its 26 turnovers after the break. The Nets were held to 19 points in the third quarter and 17 in the fourth. A huge comeback soon morphed into an easy blowout, as it was originally expected to be, but attached to a lesson.

“It’s a good reminder that no matter who you’re playing, where you’re playing, if you don’t defend, you’re in big trouble,” Kerr said. “You have to defend to win. That’s the lesson tonight.”

Well, that, and always be ready, because you never know when your mouthguard is going to pop straight out of your mouth, and you don’t want it to hit the floor. I mean, I guess I’m not sure who that lesson’s for — actually, wait: yes, I do — but it was definitely there.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!