The NBA announcement Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was fined $25,000 for throwing his spokesman into the stands during Wednesday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Curry was ejected for his act which occurred with just 74 seconds remaining in a close game, but the reason he threw the mouthpiece stemmed from his team’s unproductive offensive possession which got ended a few seconds ago.
With 1:23 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Warriors leading by two, Klay Thompson missed a midrange jumper that would have doubled the Warriors’ lead. Donte DiVincenzo grabbed the offensive board and quickly passed it to Jordan Poole, and that’s when things got out of hand.
With Curry calling the ball, Poole kicked a quick 3-pointer. He missed. Curry, in apparent frustration with Poole, angrily threw his spokesman into the stands. This led to the officials immediately ejecting him from the game.
Looked:
The ejection was the third of Curry’s career, and the other two were memorable for similar reasons. Both involved Curry throwing his mouthpiece. One came against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals. The other, coincidentally, came against those same Grizzlies in 2017.
«He knows he can’t make that mistake again,» coach Steve Kerr said after the game.
Luckily for the Warriors, Curry’s absence didn’t cost them the game. Although the Grizzlies managed to even the score twice, the Warriors managed to win on a thrilling lay-up from Poole on an inbounds pass with just a second left.
Poole shared his annoyance at the decision to eject Curry after the match. «There’s no reason for him to be sent off in the last three minutes of the game,» he said on ESPN. «He’s one of the greatest players of all time.» Regardless of the outcome, officials will face scrutiny over their decision to eject Curry. In a nationally televised game between two Western Conference rivals, fans want stars like Curry on the floor, not ejected for brief displays of emotion.