Classic Mixup
Steph Curry throws mouthguard in disgust with his own teammate's shot selection, gets ejected
With his NBA Finals MVP performance last season, Steph Curry proved he and the Golden State Warriors were all the way back after an injury-plagued 2019-'20 season and a disappointing 2020-'21 year. But Curry wasn't truly back until he whipped his mouthpiece in disgust, many were saying (no one was saying this).
Curry infamously threw his iconic mouthguard into the Cleveland crowd during the 2016 NBA Finals, which earned him a well-deserved ejection, the first of his career at the time:
Since then, it's remained firmly in his mouth. Well, not firmly. The guy chews on that thing and dangles it around his mouth like a man with slicked-back hair and a leather jacket does with a toothpick. But, thankfully, he hasn't thrown it into row two again.
That was until Wednesday night, when Curry's middling Warriors found themselves in a heated battle with one of the top team's in the West, the Memphis Grizzlies. Up by two with one minute and 14 seconds remaining, the Warriors had the ball with a chance to run some precious time off the clock, only for Jordan Poole to take a terrible shot from beyond the three-point line that sent Curry into a fit of rage. After Poole's brick, Curry fired his mouthguard once against in disgust as he was getting back on defense, and he was promptly ejected for the action:
On one hand, we actually have to side with the ref here. You can't be throwing your disgusting mouthguard around, either at people in the crowd or straight down onto the court, which appears to be wear the mouth piece ended up in the below clip, which shows a better angle. It looks like it just went straight into the hardwood:
Still, as a repeat offender, Curry should know better. Having said that, there was no bad call or whistle in question here that would have upset Curry. He's clearly mad at his own teammate's horrific shot selection in a key moment during the game and his frustration boiled over. For the ref to not understand that is some serious lack of awareness, but, as any good NBA ref knows, this was a perfect time to insert himself into the game and affect the outcome rather than just letting the best players decide it on national television. Good stuff, stripes.
Despite the ejection, just the third of Curry's career, Golden State still squeaked out a 122-120 to get back to .500. Curry broke down the whole situation afterward, clarifying the mouthguard never went into the stands. Poole ended up hitting the game-winning shot, allowing him to jokingly throw his mouthpiece at Curry in the tunnel after the win: