The Curry family's bad day started long before Stephen was throwing his mouthpiece and screaming at officials during a fourth-quarter outburst in Game 6 of the NBA Finals Thursday night.
The frustration started with Curry's wife Ayesha Tweeting conspiracy theories and his father-in-law nearly winding up cuffed and arrested. The night ended with Cleveland forcing Game 7 following a 115-101 victory and the two-time reigning MVP creating a new storyline at the center of controversy.
We will start with Mrs. Curry and her Twitter tirade that lasted throughout the evening. The first of 10 tweets, one of which was deleted, questioned why the bus transporting the families of Golden State's staff and players wasn't being allowed into the stadium 10 minutes before tipoff. She referred to it as an "Interesting tactic," hinting that the Cavaliers were behind the delay.
The big bomb was tweeted in the moments after Steph fouled out and was ejected after his outburst. Ayesha wrote "I've lost all respect … this is absolutely rigged for money…Or ratings. … I won't be silent." She later deleted the Tweet and apologized with "Tweeted in the heat of the momentum because the call was uncalled for."
She wasn't done, though. One of her final tweets of the night said the police racially profiled her dad and nearly arrested him. The Tweet concluded "It's been a long night for me. I apologize."
Steph confirmed to The Undefeated that his father-in-law had been mistaken for a con artist that has been known for using fake credentials to sneak into major sporting events.
"I was just kind of debriefed on what the security thought happened with some guy that poses with fake credentials and gets backstage at a lot of events, the NBA Finals and all that stuff," Curry told The Undefeated as he left arena. "They kind of profiled my father-in-law and thought he was him. They threatened to arrest him before they checked out his credentials. It's kind of been an emotional and tough night all the way around.
"That was kind of a traumatic situation where her [Ayesha's] dad almost got arrested. So it was kind of a tough situation to deal with in a hostile environment. All in all, it's just a game. I hope that everybody is all right."
Curry scored 30 points, but was in foul trouble all night. He lost his temper after fouling out with 4:22 left in the game and threw his famous mouthpiece into the stands. It hit Andrew Forbes, son of Cavaliers minority owner Nate Forbes. The fans erupted, but Curry took a moment in the chaos to apologize and shake the hand of Forbes before leaving the floor.
Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland roared as Curry was escorted off the court to the locker room and LeBron James and the Cavs finished off the emotional victory.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr defended his star by saying "Yeah, I'm happy he threw his mouthpiece," and was fined $25,000 on Friday morning.
"He should be upset. … Look, it's the Finals and everybody's competing out there. There are fouls on every play. It's a physical game. I just think that Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, the way we run our offense, we're running, we're cutting through the lane, we're a rhythm offense. If they're going to let Cleveland grab and hold these guys constantly on their cuts and then you're going to call these ticky-tack fouls on the MVP of the league to foul him out, I don't agree with that."
The episode also cost Curry a $25,000 fine and raises the question of can he and his teammates overcome an unfamiliar cloud of controversy to win back-to-back NBA titles on Sunday night? James and the Cavs have the momentum and will surely try to frustrate Curry yet again.
Check out the incident from last night:
