Late in last night’s come-from-behind Warriors win over the Clippers at Staples, Andre Iguodala hit a pair of three-pointers from the near and far corners, respectively. Both triples helped towards Golden State’s 13th consecutive victory to open the season, and both featured an “aw shucks, it ain’t no thang” shrug from Iggy.
Here he is making it 112-105 in the far corner with a little under five minutes left in the fourth.
https://giant.gfycat.com/LeafyEmotionalFrog.gif
And here’s the second one everyone threw up on VINE because the shrug was a lot more obvious.
https://giant.gfycat.com/DishonestDifficultIlsamochadegu.gif
While watching, we thought Iggy was merely highlighting how he’s become the de facto safety valve on the weak side any time Draymond Green is faced with those inevitable 4-on-3 situations. Opponents blitz Steph well before the three-point arc, and Iggy has feasted on the ensuing Dray pass to him in the short corners. As you can see in the GIFs above, that’s exactly what led to each Iggy triple on Thursday.
But some — as the VINE above shows — thought it was reminiscent of Michael Jordan’s shrug towards the sideline after dropping his sixth three-pointer — the previous Finals record for a half had been five — in the first half of Game 1 from the 1992 Finals between the Bulls and Blazers. You remember the MJ shrug, it’s become one of many iconic moments that make up his mythological NBA legacy, and you can be sure ABC will be playing it before their Finals telecast in June.
https://media.giphy.com/media/10RgsJNJvC0avm/giphy.gif
But we think Iggy’s shrug was more of a “Welp, this is what you get when you leave the 2015 Finals MVP open.” Not only that, but as we mentioned in that Basketball, Neat piece about Dray’s elite playmaking, Iguodala is shooting really well from deep this year. Oh wait, he’s actually leading the whole team in three-pointer efficiency at 45.9 percent. (Steph is 45.3, but he’s also taken 113 more attempts this season; man, they are just too good right now.)
But that wasn’t all Dray did on the night, and it wasn’t even the only time he celebrated in such a manifest manner. No, his best bit of ballyhoo came with a little over a minute to play and the Warriors leading 116-115. As you can see from the below GIF, Iggy was hearing it from the Clippers bench as he was trying to inbounds the ball. (Quick aside: Lance, don’t talk sh*t when you haven’t played a single minute.)
But the Warriors ran a fun set of screens on the inbounds and the Clippers were so panicked at the threat of another Steph triple, they double-teamed him above the arc and let Dray cut to the iron unmolested for a layup that pushed the Warriors lead to three.
https://giant.gfycat.com/LeftNarrowIrishredandwhitesetter.gif
But it was Iggy’s celebration everyone loved — except most* of the Staples crowd.
For the game, Andre finished with just eight points in 30 minutes, but he added seven assists and four boards for a very Iggy stat line.
This team is rapidly approaching all-time status, and we’re not even in December. It’s easy to forget about the Finals MVP when there are so many other threats on the court. All you can really do…is shrug.
*Enough Warriors fans made the trek south, don’t be surprised if Blake says something about it.
