This was the game Steph got ejected for throwing his mouthpiece because he was so heated at Poole’s shot selection.
As we wind the year down, we here at GSOM are taking a look back at each month of 2023’s biggest Golden State Warriors moments.
Let’s start with January! How about the game the Dubs stunned the Memphis Grizzlies 122-120 in Chase Center, erasing a 10-point Grizz lead to come away with the victory?
With Golden State clinging to a 116-114 lead with just under 90 seconds to play, Donte DiVincenzo heroically tapped out a rebound over three Grizzlies (!) to Klay Thompson. Killa Klay (who finished with 8 clutch points in the final frame) quickly dished the rock to the young daredevil Jordan Poole. Curry teleported to Poole’s side with his hands out, begging for the ball to help put the final nail in Memphis’ coffin.
Keep in mind that recently Curry had been heavily criticized since returning from his long injury absence for some clunky late game decision making and difficult shot selection; this was his chance to get himself and this franchise back on track against a conference rival.
But Poole didn’t care about all that. He immediately hoisted a three-pointer from so deep he might as well have shot it from Marin County. It was a ridiculous 30-foot trick shot that thudded off the rim, a mind-numbingly bad brick in a big-time moment of a heated game.
As the terrible miss was gobbled up by the hungry Grizzlies, Curry exploded with frustration. The greatest player in the league indignantly spat out his mouth piece and hurled it like a lightning bolt, a demonstratively fed-up moment that crystallized the pain of integrating a budding young star-in-the-making like Poole with the proven assassins that are the Splash Bros.
It also alerted the referees who apparently have a league edict to eject Steph whenever he has a tantrum with a projectile involved. THEY THREW THE MVP OUT OF THE GAME!
Here’s Steph Curry’s full explanation on the mouthguard toss, the ejection and the Jordan Poole shot selection that sparked it pic.twitter.com/h0nzgEwo2h
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 26, 2023
Thankfully the Dubs were able to overcome that shocking sequence to emerge with the victory.