Steph Curry, his family targeted by 'stupid' heckling, harassment from Raptors fans during NBA Finals
The Curry family has had to deal with their fare share of harassment from Toronto Raptors fans throughout the NBA Finals.
Video surfaced on Tuesday of Raptors fans heckling Curry’s parents, Dell and Sonya, outside of their Toronto hotel, before Game 5 of the NBA Finals at Scotiabank Arena.
A Raptors fan was even arrested after making “vulgar comments” about Curry’s wife, Ayesha, during a live TV interview after Toronto’s Game 2 loss to the Golden State Warriors last week, according to USA Today. The fan, 28-year-old Tristan Warkentin, was charged with “mischief — interfere with lawful operation of property” for allegedly using “profane phrases,” per the report. Warkentin, who will make his first court appearance on Thursday, allegedly referenced sexual assault when speaking about Ayesha during the interview, according to the Toronto Sun.
Curry, when asked about the incidents on Wednesday, admitted that it’s nearly impossible to avoid those interactions with fans during the NBA Finals. Still, the whole thing doesn’t make sense to him.
“I think in terms of being in the Finals five years in a row and being on this stage, it’s hard to avoid those interactions with fans that want to kind of impose their — or make their imprint on the series somehow, in some way, especially with social media these days,’’ Curry said Wednesday, via USA Today.
“I think it's kind of stupid, to be honest, in terms of people camping outside our hotel just to yell expletives at either us or our family members or whatever the case is.”
Curry — who dropped 31 points in their 106-105 win in Game 5, which kept the series alive — was one of the many players on both teams who condemned the actions of select Raptors fans who cheered after Kevin Durant ruptured his Achilles in Game 5, too.
That experience, he said, was very unlike the reaction he usually gets when playing in Toronto.
“I'm very confused around that reaction,” Curry said after Game 5. “It's not my experience with people of this city ... I just hope that ugliness doesn’t show itself again as we go forward in this series.”
Regardless, Curry said the Warriors aren’t letting any fan interaction impact their performance on the court. If nothing else, the Currys will be in a much friendlier environment on Thursday night for Game 6 of the series at Oracle Arena.
“We handle all that stuff with class and try to ignore it the best we can,” Curry said, via USA Today. “And if they get something out of it, so be it. But it doesn't affect us at all in terms of what we're trying to do and how we carry ourselves as a team as players and as people that represent us and our families as well.’’
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