For 47 and a half minutes Monday night, Warriors star Steph Curry and young Houston Rockets wing Kevin Porter Jr. were locked in a heated battle.
With 30 seconds left in the Warriors' 122-108 win over the Rockets at Toyota Center, everything changed.
That's when Porter Jr. approached the two-time NBA MVP with a question.
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"Actually, like 30 seconds left, I went up to him and I asked him for some pointers," Porter Jr. told reporters after the game. "Being an MVP, first unanimous one, that's someone I can learn from. He's same position as me and he's been doing this for so long people been getting comfortable with what he's capable of doing and it's not really a surprise. But seeing him play like this definitely something to learn from and pointers I can pick from him. So I just asked him for some points and after the game, he kind of elaborated more and answered what I was asking him."
Porter Jr. revealed what Curry told him.
"Making the game easier for myself and for the team," Porter Jr. said. "Mainly on the pick-and-rolls, being able to dissect the defense and the first two of the pick-and-roll defenders."
Curry lit up Porter Jr. and the Rockets for 40 points, including a career-high 21 in the fourth quarter, to seal the Warriors' win. During the game, KPJ stared down Curry after an off-ball foul and jawed in the direction of the Warriors' bench after he made a basket before a timeout.
Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area that it was "gamesmanship" and Porter Jr. quickly took to Twitter after the game to make it clear there was no real animosity between him and Curry.
During his postgame press conference, it was nothing but love from Curry to the 21-year-old Porter Jr.
"I can do a good job of separating the 48 minutes and everything else in terms of 'giving back to the game,'" Curry told reporters in Houston. "Had a lot of people do that for me. He had a solid question about how I approach a certain part of the game. Wanted to give him what I knew. Like I said, kind of pass the torch on, hand some of that wisdom off, but I had to wait until after the buzzer."
While Curry is the established star headed for the Hall of Fame, Porter Jr. is in his third NBA season and is oozing with potential. For him, it's about learning from the greats and getting better each day, which is why going up against someone like Curry is so important to him.
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"I feel like I'm getting more and more respected with how I compete and I'm not afraid of anyone or any challenge," Porter Jr. said. "And I like playing against Steph. He's going to make us better as a team coming in here and having the night he just did. We're going to build and learn from this game. And a player like that, you've got to take the challenge because at the end of the day, it's going to better you. There's no other way. It's going to better you because you're competing against him."
The Rockets (14-36) have several intriguing young pieces and are in the early stages of a rebuild. On Monday, they got an up-close look at a reloaded Warriors' team that improved to 38-13 with the win. Porter Jr. has a bright future ahead of him, but it was Curry's night to shine in Houston.