Warriors Go All Out for Students from Parkland's Stoneman Douglas High
Stephen Curry ordinarily would be getting off his feet as fast as possible after a morning shootaround practice, saving his legs for the looming game that night.
Wednesday, however, wasn’t ordinary.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr invited some students — including ones from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, the school in Parkland where 17 students and staff were killed in a mass shooting Feb. 14, 2018 — into the Warriors’ game-morning practice in Miami.
And long after the session was over, Curry was throwing alley-oop lobs and engaging in 3-point contests with kids who couldn’t believe they were hanging out with stars from the two-time defending NBA champions.
The lob is from Stephen Curry.
The dunk is from Matt Fisher of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. #msdstrong pic.twitter.com/IZUwFZLmHi
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) February 27, 2019
“You hate that you have these opportunities because of what happened at our school,” Jeff Foster, a teacher and former coach at Stoneman Douglas, said. “But at the same time, it’s nice to have these contacts and meet people, and coach Kerr has been at a few of the events with our kids … you’re always glad to sit around and talk to him, whether it’s about basketball or politics. And we just spent time doing both.”
While Kerr was chatting with teachers, some of the boys and girls got onto the court with the Warriors. Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Kevin Durant and Curry were among those who stuck around after shootaround for about an extra half-hour, posing for photos and talking about basketball.
“It’s special having them here. … They come to just have fun, enjoy themselves. I know that means a lot,” Curry said as he watched the kids playing on the same court where the Warriors would visit the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
Matt Fisher won’t forget it anytime soon.
Fisher is among the captains of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ boys basketball team, which lost its district championship game in quadruple-overtime and then fell in the first round of the state tournament.
He plans to play college basketball at Division III’s Washington University in St. Louis next season, but if that doesn’t work out at least he can say he caught a lob from Curry for a dunk.
“This is just a surreal opportunity that I really appreciate,” said Fisher, who talked Curry into having a 3-point contest against him. It was briefly tied at 1-1 before Curry prevailed.
The Golden State Warriors hosted students from Stoneman Douglas High School this morning — Here’s what Steph Curry and Steve Kerr said about the experience #msdstrong pic.twitter.com/qs0PGg5X6p
— WPLG Local 10 Sports (@Local10Sports) February 27, 2019
Kerr has made no secret about his desire for new gun laws in the wake of the Parkland shooting. He said he has closely followed the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas who launched the March for Our Lives antigun organization.
“The fortunate thing is the young people leading this drive are going to be much more impactful than old people like me,” Kerr said. “It’s true. Older people have been trying to do something but they haven’t made the impact. But the next generation, the country belongs to them. So I’m really proud of what they’re doing.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
