The 2019 NBA Finals will be a homecoming of sorts for Steph Curry.
The Warriors superstar guard lived in Toronto for two years while his father, Dell, played for the Raptors.
While living in Toronto, Curry played basketball at Queensway Christian College, a small school that has since closed.
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Queensway Christian College wasn't exactly known as a basketball powerhouse, but along came Curry and everything changed for the Saints.
“He was this tiny little guy, but when we put him on the court he was just unbelievable. He was scoring 40 points, 50 points a game, no problem,” James Lackey, the history teacher who coached Curry and the Saints told the Toronto Star in 2015. “No one even came close to us that year.”
Curry led the Saints to an undefeated season, and Lackey is proud of what his former point guard has accomplished in his illustrious NBA career.
“To know, wow, that’s the little guy we coached, and here he is on a national stage,” Lackey said. "As a teacher and a coach, that’s what you want to see."
Golden State Warriors
The two-time NBA MVP has dazzled basketball fans with his silky stroke, sick handles and incredible court vision, the same array of moves he demonstrated all those years ago for the Saints.
"The way he handled the ball, his go-to-moves, the way he would pull up for jumpers — it was the exact same . . . It’s incredible to watch him now,” Casey Field, a teammate of Curry that season told The Star.
The heroics Warriors fans have become accustomed to seeing Curry deliver during their dynastic run were present during the Saints' undefeated season.
Facing a team with multiple players above six feet tall, the Saints found themselves struggling to score and it looked like their undefeated run would come to an end.
“I tell them: Guys, I think we’re going to lose. I am out of ideas. I have nothing left to give you on how to beat these guys," Lackey told his team during a timeout.
Curry, however, had a plan.
"That's when Steph got serious," Lackey recalled. to Marcus Thompson in his book "Golden." "He just said, ‘We're not losing this game. Give me the ball.' That's exactly what he said. So I said give the ball to Steph. That's the play."
Out of the timeout, Curry drilled a 3-pointer, stole the ball, hit another 3-pointer. Then, Field hit a triple and Curry splashed another from long distance to cap the run.
"I’ve never seen anything like it,” Lackey said. “We ended up winning the game. It was a 13-point swing-around and it was entirely because of him.”
Curry now finds himself heading back to Toronto needing to knock off the Raptors to complete the Warriors' quest to three-peat and secure his fourth NBA championship.
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As talented as Curry was at Queensway Christian College, something other than his game stuck out to Field.
“People talk about the basketball side a lot, but what for me stood out was that he was just a really down-to-earth, humble guy. He did not have any big head about it, even though he was clearly the best player in Ontario at the time,” Field said.
Curry and the Warriors hope he's still the best player in Ontario when the NBA Finals begin Thursday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.