THE CURRYS AND THOMPSONS first intersected on a winter's night in 1986. The Utah Jazz were hosting the San Antonio Spurs, and not a soul in the Salt Palace could ever have foreseen that this was a battle of the Splash Fathers.

On one bench was a 6-foot-5 Utah rookie who had three letters scribbled next to his name on the San Antonio scouting report: DLH (Don't Leave Him).

Dell Curry's reputation as a rapid-fire shooter proceeded him way back then, even though he was the team's fourth guard behind Ricky Green, Bobby Hansen and a scrawny, 24-year-old John Stockton.