Chris Paul Mimics 2021 Stephen Curry as Warriors Fall Short to Mavericks, NBA Twitter Reacts

Abhishek Dhariwal | 14/03/2024
Chris Paul Mimics 2021 Stephen Curry as Warriors Fall Short to Mavericks, NBA Twitter Reacts

With no Stephen Curry in the Warriors lineup, Golden State continues to perish as teams are having their way on the court. Recently, the Dallas Mavericks handed the Warriors a defeat at home. Though the team did not have The Chef in their lineup, backup point guard Chris Paul sure embodied the 2021 Steph after receiving a technical foul, leading fans to give out hilarious reactions on X.

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Golden State Warriors 99-109 tonight. Veteran point guard Chris Paul took over the helm in Curry’s absence but was not able to emulate the same performance as the Baby-Faced Assassin.

During the fourth quarter, the Warriors got called for a 24-second shot clock violation on a possession. The possession ended with Chris Paul trying to attempt a shot in the hopes of beating the buzzer but ended up getting fouled instead.

Seeing no call from the officials after the play, Paul jogged down the court jawing at the referee. Paul’s excessive comments led him to get a technical foul for it. And CP3 may have had the perfect response for it.

After receiving a technical for jawing at the official, Paul decided to hand one right back, imitating a technical foul call on the referee. This instantly led fans to draw comparisons to when Stephen Curry did the same back in 2021.

Curry was fouled on a layup attempt on a fastbreak opportunity in a matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers that summer. The physical contact that Curry met with at the rim rightfully deserved a foul call. 

But seeing no action from the ref, Curry lost his cool at the official, causing him to receive a technical. While any other player may have gotten even more livid and received another tech, leading to an ejection but not Curry.

The Chef went off against the Clippers and within a few minutes, the game was out of reach of the Clippers. During a timeout by LA, Curry decided to openly mock the official’s technical foul while beating his chest after going off on the floor.

Fans react to Chris Paul’s out

Credits: USA TODAY SPORTS

Chris Paul’s reaction to receiving a technical foul sure did embody a similar reaction to what Curry had back in 2021. But that was as close as he managed to get to The Chef’s impression on the court. Some fans on X could not help but react to Paul’s hilarious interaction with the officials during the game. One fan tweeted, “CP3 definitely coming for Scott Fosters job.”

 

While another fan commented, “Uh oh… when Steph did it he stopped getting foul calls… this bout to get uglier.”

 

Here are a few more reactions from fans on X.

 

 

 

Paul may have been successful in imitating Steph’s reaction but the same cannot be said for imitating Curry’s performance as well. For the Clippers game back in 2021, Curry went off for 33 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 steals, and 1 block for the game, as per Statmuse.

As for Paul, he did not have the same success as Steph, finishing tonight’s game with 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists for the 31 minutes he was on the floor. Paul shot 4-12 from the field and 1-4 from beyond the arc. With this loss, the Warriors are now 34-13 in the season, falling to the 10th spot in the West.

If Golden State does hope to make it to the playoffs this season, then this is the time to go on another run before it’s too late. Judging by how the Warriors are performing lately, do you think they’ll even make it to the postseason, let alone have any success? It is surely a concerning thought for Dub nations fans to ponder upon.

Post Edited By: Tonoy Sengupta
Chris Paul Stephen Curry

About the author

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Abhishek Dhariwal

A fan of Basketball since the late 2000s, Abhishek Dhaiwal has been covering the game for over five years. Having done his masters in Journalism and Mass Communication, Abhishek is an NBA sports journalist at The SportsRush. A fan of the San Antonio Spurs since the Tim Duncan era, Abhishek has an extensive knowledge of the sport and has covered more than 1500 articles. Having a firsthand experience of the sport, Abhishek has represented his city and state at a District and National level. And it is the same level of expertise he aims to bring while covering extensive topics both on and off the court of your favorite basketball stars.

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