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Juan Toscano-Anderson Started Celebrating Immediately After Passing to Wide-Open Stephen Curry

In Friday’s Hot Clicks: Stephen Curry’s ridiculous shooting night, the Golden Knights’ golden helmets and more.

Dan Gartland

Celebrate as early as you want when Steph is that wide open

Stephen Curry was on fire in Thursday night’s win over the Magic: 40 points on 14-of-26 shooting (10-of-19 from three), eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. It was the kind of performance that he’s been having all season, and has found him in the MVP discussion.

He was feeling it, and his teammates knew it. Check out rookie Juan Toscano-Anderson’s assist to Curry in the fourth quarter. Andrew Wiggins found Toscano-Anderson on the wing in transition and he spotted Steph all by himself on the other side of the floor. Before the ball even hit Curry’s hands, Toscano-Anderson turned around and started celebrating. The apex of his big windmill motion coincided perfectly with Curry’s release. He turned around to watch the ball go through the net, but probably more to marvel at Curry’s accuracy than to make sure it actually went in.

Toscano-Anderson has never played with a guy like Curry. (Well, nobody except for Steph’s teammates has played with a guy like him, but Toscano-Anderson hasn’t played with anybody even remotely in Steph’s zone.) After going undrafted out of Marquette in 2015, he played a few years in Mexico and Venezuela before catching on with the Warriors’ G League affiliate last season. Now he’s worked his way into the starting lineup and he’s enjoying every minute of it.

“A little exciting, but you can do those things when you’re playing with the best shooter in the world,” Toscano-Anderson told reporters. “I’m super confident in him shooting the ball, obviously. It’s kind of like every time he shoots the ball, you expect it to go in. Maybe two plays later he missed one and I told him he owes me an assist for that.”

Steph was so locked in that he made one last ridiculous shot after the buzzer ended.

Of course Toscano-Anderson was going to celebrate early when the guy he was passing to is capable of stuff like that. 

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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