HANDOUT

This will likely shock you, but Steph Curry‘s incredible basketball talent didn’t just show up right before Davidson’s incredible 2008 NCAA Tournament run.

And I can prove it, with the help of footage of him dominating back in eighth grade.

Sure, the competition isn’t the greatest–even with his NBA dad, Dell, putting forth minimal effort. But you do see flashes of the younger Curry’s game at work. There’s the sharpshooting from distance, the fancy dribbling and snazzy passes we’ve all come to love.

Led by Curry, this ragamuffin group of seventh- and eighth-graders crushed their Toronto competition.

“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,” gushed James Lackey, the history teacher who coached the Saints during their out-of-nowhere undefeated season of 2001-02. “No one even came close to us that year.”

 Pretty damn impressive considering the relative sloppiness on display from his teammates here.

[H/T: Complex, Toronto Star]

ESPN

Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors embarrassed the defending champion San Antonio Spurs on Friday night. Curry was his usual brilliant self, making remarkable plays and looking completely unstoppable in rhe process.

Watch as Steph Curry breaks Tony Parker’s ankles, dishes a no-look behind-the-back pass to Klay Thompson, and finishes a fast break by going behind-the-back for a layup.

Marvin Bagley III’s future is bright. The high school freshman is one of the highest-ranked recruits in the nation and is drawing interest from all the important programs.

Plus, you know, it won’t be long until he can drive a car all by himself.

At 6-foot-10 and just 15 years-old, he likely isn’t even done growing. And that’s a scary thought because he has already shown the ability to do stuff like this with his impressive frame.

That, of course, is a perfect imitation of Victor Oladipo’s signature jam at last weekend’s Slam Dunk contest.

Jesus. That’s just unfair to normal 15-year-olds. Can you imagine the terror of the 6-foot-2 “big men” charged with shutting this guy down? It’s bad enough getting owned but they also know in the back of their mind that it’s happening in front of dozens of scouts and will be on the internet before the post-game shower dries.

Growing up is hard. Especially when you’re not a giant athletic freak.

[H/T: USA Today Sports]

TNT

It’s a sad state of affairs for the New York Knicks. They’ve lost 14 games in a row and you don’t have to look far to see the disappointment in Knicks fans and players.

During last night’s Rockets-Knicks games there was almost a full row of Knicks fans with paper bags on their heads. Later in the game Carmelo Anthony was seen shaking his head in disillusionment. Not even number one Knicks fan Spike Lee looked very happy. All this and we’re not even halfway through the season..

TSN

During Friday’s Raptors-Pistons game, James Johnson threw down a nasty one-handed reachback dunk on Pistons center Andre Drummond. Drummond didn’t like getting dunked on, so he gave Johnson a shoulder shove on the very next play.

Whether Andre likes it or not this dunk is going to play on Sportscenter over and over again.

Drummond cheap shot