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In their lone trip to Memphis this season, the Golden State Warriors were handed their second loss of the year in what ended up being a chaotic, messy 101-111 loss.
You may remember that Memphis was one of only two teams to beat Golden State twice last season, and they’re on their way to trying to do it again this year. Though the Warriors were on the second half of a back-to-back.
The Warriors came out stronger than they’ve looked at the start of any game this season so far, with a pair of 3-point shots from Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant. But the Grizzlies showed that their push for faster offense was more than just talk as they went on multiple runs. Even five consecutive free-throws by Stephen Curry (who shot a perfect 13-13 from the line for the night on his way to 37 points) weren’t enough to come out on top in the first quarter, with Memphis going on an 8-2 run to close it out on a Chandler Parsons buzzer beater.
Strong shooting from Parsons and Marc Gasol (who had a team-high 34 points for the night) helped the Grizzlies continue to run unchecked, managing an 11-point lead mid-way through the quarter.
Curry, despite drawing three early fouls, stayed in and managed back-to-back 3-point shots. However, he was quickly called for a fourth and sent to the bench, despite having a game-high 16 points at the time.
The Warriors battled back, however, ending the half down by only five, but that wouldn’t last long.
The third quarter featured a symphony of foul calls, killing pretty much any momentum Golden State even tried to start. Meanwhile, Memphis started the quarter on a 16-2 run to blow open the lead with an impressive offensive display, boasting a lead as high as 19 points late in the quarter.
The Warriors could not get stops. Even when they did manage to get going on offense, they failed to hold it on the other end without getting called for fouls, culminating in Curry’s fifth foul called with two minutes remaining in the third quarter. His absence was felt, as the Warriors scored only two more points for the rest of the quarter, trailing by 17 to start the fourth.
A 9-0 run from Golden State cut Memphis’ lead to single digits early in the fourth, but the Grizzlies couldn’t be held down for long. In what became a fast-paced, chaotic mess broken up by ever-more foul calls, it was Memphis that held it together.
With 43 seconds left, Curry and Durant were ejected from the game. Curry thought he’d gotten a foul on a layup, but it wasn’t called. This was the last straw for Curry, who had a bad night of ending up on the wrong side of a foul call or lack thereof.
Here's video of the Steph Curry mouthguard throw via @World_Wide_Wob pic.twitter.com/fEvxRlqtHT
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 22, 2017
He threw his mouthpiece in the general direction of the refs and was thrown out of the game. Durant had some words to say about this and quickly joined Curry in being ejected. Curry faces possible suspension for his part, according to Tim Bontemps, who says that they should find out in the next two days.
In my opinion after the fact? There wasn’t a foul there. But I can understand Curry’s frustration and I don’t begrudge him for it. He doesn’t get half the calls he should get. So of course he was going to boil over at some point. It’s not like he punched a ref, he just tossed his mouthpiece. Which is, admittedly, kind of gross, but he’s not like number one on the NBA’s most wanted list for this.
Anyway, the Warriors never saw another lead after the opening minutes, and ultimately lost by ten points.
Poll
Who was the Warrior Wonder against the Grizzlies?
This poll is closed
-
2%
Zaza Pachulia
(26 votes) -
1%
Draymond Green
(14 votes) -
3%
Kevin Durant
(33 votes) -
2%
Klay Thompson
(27 votes) -
63%
Steph Curry
(645 votes) -
0%
Shaun Livingston
(5 votes) -
0%
Andre Iguodala
(6 votes) -
0%
Patrick McCaw
(6 votes) -
0%
Jordan Bell
(10 votes) -
0%
David West
(6 votes) -
1%
JaVale McGee
(12 votes) -
1%
Nick Young
(16 votes) -
4%
Quinn Cook
(42 votes) -
16%
Dumb fouls
(169 votes)