BOILING OVER
Curry and Durant tossed as Warriors frustrated by calls and their own play
MEMPHIS, TENN. >> At a rapid-fire pace, Stephen Curry wound up and completed a throwing motion. Unfortunately for the Warriors, this did not involve Curry launching a quick 3-pointer. This involved Curry throwing his mouthpiece in the direction of an official after he became upset with a silent whistle.
In the final minute of the Warriors’ 111-101 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, Curry became agitated for not being rewarded a trip to the foul line after Grizzlies guard Mike Conley gave him contact en route to a missed layup. So once Curry tossed his mouthpiece to the official, he immediately sparked an ejection. It marked the end of an ugly game where Curry offset his team-leading 37 points glossed with five fouls and a late-game outburst.
“My frustration boiled over, did something stupid and deserved to get kicked out,” Curry said. “I’ll obviously learn from it and try not to do it again.”
Warriors forward Kevin Durant appeared just as upset. After expressing his displeasure to the officials, Durant received an ejection too. Video caught Durant taunting a Grizzlies fan and flash-
ing his ring finger to signal his credentials as an NBA champion.
“I’m sure everybody thinks I’m the angry black athlete so I got to put my middle finger up,” Durant joked. “But no, I put my ring finger up.”
It remains unclear if Durant or Curry receives any fine or suspension. Curry has some history, though. The NBA fined him $25,000 for throwing his mouthpiece out of frustration in Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals, a gesture that accidently hit a courtside fan.
Curry argued against his suspension by outlining his intent this way: “If I was trying to throw at him or hit him, I would’ve been able to execute that.”
“I’ve thrown my mouthpiece plenty of times and have thrown it on the floor,” Curry said. It’s probably not the best thing to do, but I’ve done it. I own up to it. I don’t think it’s a suspension or anything like that. My pockets will be a lot lighter, for sure.”
While Curry offered contrition, coach Steve Kerr offered playful sarcasm.
“He should be suspended eight, maybe 10 games for that,” Kerr said. “It was egregious. It was awful. It endangered thousands of people in the stands.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors (1-2) have plenty to figure out after their loss to Memphis (2-0).
Curry and Draymond Green (five fouls) struggled the most in defending without drawing whistles, as the Warriors racked up 28 fouls.
“I have to stop being stupid, to be honest,” Curry said. “Three of the fouls I had tonight was trying to reach and get a steal.”
The once offensively prolific Warriors committed 17 turnovers, as Durant offset his 29-point performance with six turnovers.
“That’s on me. I’m turning the ball over at a high rate right now,” said Durant, who has averaged 5.5 turnovers through three games. “I’m really pissed at myself about it.”
As the Warriors shot 33-of-84 from the field, the Grizzlies’ reserves outscored the Warriors’ bench, 41-18. Meanwhile, the Warriors showed no signs of retaining their top-five defensive efficiency ranking after conceding double-digit effots to Marc Gasol (34 points), James Ennis III (13), Tyreke Evans (12), Mario Chalmers (10) and Conley (10).
“I’m not doing a great job putting together combinations and finding the right motivation to get guys going and get some joy and laughter in here,” Kerr said. “It’s one of those rough patches. Hopefully we can find our way out of it. I’m sure we will. But it may take some time.”
The Warriors may have
preached patience. But they showed little patience on Sunday through their mistakes and emotions that made for an ugly game that marks a stark contrast to their championship aspirations.
Perhaps the Warriors can chalk up some of these issues to an unfavorable NBA schedule.
After already feeling behind on their conditioning and preparation because of a week-long preseason trip in China, the Warriors opened the first week of the regular-season on a backto-back slate in unusual conditions. The Warriors played in New Orleans on Friday for an 8:30 pm CT tip to accommodate the ESPN telecast. The Warriors then arrived in Memphis on Saturday around 3:00 am. CT.
Just like against Memphis, Curry had struggled in a season-opening loss to Houston with foul trouble (four), forcing Kerr to juggle a rotation that suddenly became compromised. The Warriors had struggled with turnovers both against Houston (17) and New Orleans (18). And just like in their two other games, the Warriors allowed Memphis to go on double-digit runs.
• Reserve guard Omri Casspi sat out for the second consecutive game because of a sprain in both of his ankles. Casspi is expected to return for Monday’s game in Dallas. Kerr also again placed forwards Kevon Looney and Damian Jones on the inactive roster, while making Quinn Cook available for insurance purposes in the backcourt.