SAN FRANCISCO — On a night when the referees were quick with the whistle, Warriors superstar Steph Curry was served up an ejection in the final minutes of a tense game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
With 1:14 left in the contest, Curry tossed his mouthguard in disgust after Jordan Poole attempted a 30-foot 3-pointer on the other end of the floor. When Curry set up on defense, he chucked the mouthguard and ref Gediminas Petraitis quickly T’d him up and tossed him out of the game.
At that point of the contest, the Warriors were clinging onto a two-point lead. Despite not having Steph in the final moments, Golden State pulled off an ugly 122-120 victory over the hated Grizzlies.
Steph said his anger came from the right place, as he wanted to show the Warriors to have a sense of urgency, but that he let it get out of hand. Literally.
"I reacted in a way that obviously put myself out of the game and put the team in a tough place," Curry said. "But the intentions and the energy around what matters and the sense of winning? That's what it's all about. Thankfully we all responded -- my teammates responded extremely well."
Curry didn't want to see another winnable game lost from their grasp. Especially not after seeing a 17-point lead against the Brooklyn Nets evaporte on Sunday.
Still, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Steph should have kept his emotions in check.
"He knows he can't make that mistake again," Kerr said. "But I was really proud of the guys. They fought through. ... To win the game after the Steph ejection was great."
Curry played 35 minutes, scoring 34 points on 10-of-19 shooting (4-of-8 from 3) before his ejection. Steph’s playing time was reduced in the first quarter after he picked up two fouls in 59 seconds to begin the game. In all, 53 fouls were called, 27 on the Warriors and 26 on the Grizzlies.
Jordan Poole ended up hitting the game-winner on a layup from an inbounds pass with one second left. Curry waited to congratulate his teammates in an arena tunnel after the victory, and Jordan Poole mocked him by throwing his mouthguard.
"That was one of those 'too soon' jokes," Steph said after the game.
This wasn’t the first time Steph was ejected for throwing his mouthguard. In the final few minutes of Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals in Cleveland, Curry was ejected for the same reason.
"I remember in 2016, when I threw it, I hit somebody. That's a clear situation (to get ejected)," Curry said. "This one, I'm sure he just saw how hard I threw it, but it didn't go into the stands. ... I threw it pretty hard but I didn't think it got into the stands or put anybody in danger. Maybe I dented the floor too hard. It is what it is."
