The Golden State Warriors recently reached a level of frustration that we haven’t really seen out of them during their current run of dominance. The team lost to Memphis on Saturday night, 111-101, as their record fell to 1-2 on the year. It was game three of an 82 game season, so it’s not the end of the world, but seeing as how the Warriors expect near perfection, it was a rough loss.
This was evident in how Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant reacted towards the end of the game. Curry got ejected for throwing his mouthpiece at a referee, and after he got tossed, Durant was thrown out for arguing with an official.
It was a bad look, sure, and while there may be some fallout from the incident, the Warriors aren’t too worried. As proof, look at what Draymond Green had to say about Curry getting tossed.
Draymond Green to ESPN on state of the team, and on Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant getting ejected. pic.twitter.com/m2uv6kSgpz
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 22, 2017
Steve Kerr took a similar approach, acknowledging that while Curry did something that wasn’t ideal, he appears to think that some of the anger about the incident might have been a bit overblown.
Steve Kerr sarcastically on Curry's mouth guard throw: "Should be suspended 10 games…endangered thousands of people." pic.twitter.com/ncKEh9jAoD
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 22, 2017
So on one hand, yes, this is absolutely part of the Warriors’ years-long heel turn that has led to them embracing the fact that they are the NBA’s “evil empire.” But also, Green and Kerr both seem to understand that this is something that happened three games into a long season and getting angry about it won’t help the team in the long run. Even if Curry does get suspended — which, seeing as how he threw a mouthguard at a referee, that wouldn’t be a shock — Golden State’s eyes are on a ring. As long as he’s there for the postseason, that’s all that matters.
