Stephen Curry hits half-court buzzer beater, sets National Basketball Association record

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr talks to his team from the sideline during the first half of the Warriors’ NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers on Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, in Oakland, Calif.

When he began the leave of absence October 1, he initially had hoped to return by January 1, but he did begin taking road trips in recent weeks to test his symptoms.

The reigning MVP banked in a shot from midcourt with a hand in his face at the halftime buzzer after his three-quarter court swish at the end of the first was just late and he finished with 39 points and a triple-double, helping Kerr win his season debut in the Golden State Warriors’ 122-110 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. And usually the greatest part of Kerr when he is right is the wittiness of those jokes, then a pause, then the next 20-30 seconds of him thoughtfully reponding to that questions with an illuminating response.

It’s a very Steve Kerr thing for the spectacular play of his team to steal the spotlight from his return to the bench. Just felt good to be back in Oracle with all the energy from the crowd.

Kerr, 50, said in mid-December that he was optimistic he would be back in the coming weeks.

Jordan also got his eighth technical foul of the season after tangling with Knicks starting center Robin Lopez, who was ejected from the game. “But fortunately our team is in a pretty good groove and hopefully can keep going and keep playing the way we have the past few outings”.

Walton was a phenomenal replacement in Kerr’s absence, and was possibly the best replacement out of everyone on the Warriors’ staff. He and Kerr have been locked in since the former Arizona Wildcats joined the staff together before last season. Walton’s near-perfect coaching stint has led to the expectation he will be a top head-coaching candidate next offseason.

Star player Stephen Curry said the news was a surprise to the team, according to ESPN.

“We adjusted and held the fort down while Coach Kerr was out, but just his presence, his voice, mannerisms on the bench, pre-game, all that stuff was like it’s supposed to be”.

“I wanted to come back a couple weeks ago and I sort of had a target date in mind-and we got to the date and it was, I m not ready. Luke’s jumping out at the right time”, Kerr said. He easily will be a head coach before long and on a more permanent basis. I keep expecting my alarm to go off and these visions to disappear into the ether.

“My back has been fine for quite some time”, he said.

“Tell Luke I love him”, the proud Hall of Famer said.

I have no doubt Gregg Popovich will target all these weaknesses on Monday – and probably plenty of others we haven’t even recognized yet – but the Warriors have to feel good about their momentum heading into Monday’s match-up.