Smart ejected after punching Bassey as Rockets beat Warriors 115-108; Curry exits with abdominal soreness
The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors 115-108 in an NBA regular-season game on Wednesday night, a contest that saw Stephen Curry leave in the first quarter with right abdominal soreness and Marcus Smart ejected for punching Charles Bassey.
The loss ended Golden State’s eight-game winning streak and came on a night the Warriors were held well below their season scoring average of 120.4 points per game. Golden State sit at 8-4 this season amid a series of absences: Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody were missing with knee injuries and Kristaps Porziņģis has stepped away from basketball over an undisclosed health issue; Curry missed significant time last season, during which the Warriors struggled badly. Curry entered Wednesday ranked second in the NBA by averaging 30.6 points a game.
Kevin Durant led the Rockets with 20 points while Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson each scored 19. For Golden State, Yaxel Lendeborg supplied 25 points and 10 rebounds and Brandin Podziemski added 22 points; Curry had just three points before exiting the game.
Stephen Curry left in the first quarter with right abdominal soreness and did not return to the game. The team has scheduled an MRI to assess the injury.
Marcus Smart was ejected late in the third quarter after throwing a punch that appeared to lightly strike Charles Bassey’s nose; the sequence was reviewed and ruled a Flagrant 2 foul. The report said Smart was immediately pushed away by two Warriors, an official grabbed Bassey around the waist to pull him out of the fracas, and Smart went straight to the locker room rather than waiting for the officials to process the ejection.
“I remember the first half, I was trying to set a screen [and] he grabbed my knee. He was playing dirty,” Bassey said after the game. “I think I was trying to get a rebound. He was grabbing my hand, and I was trying to run back on defense. Then he got up on me and just swung. Obviously, that was weak. I just think that was, honestly, fake toughness.
“It didn’t surprise me. I knew he was going to do something. I don’t think he was trying to play. I think he was trying to get himself out of the game. I think he was trying to chill. He wasn’t trying to hoop. That was fake toughness.”
“The spirit of this team is better,” Draymond Green said after Wednesday’s game. “We’re more certain of who we are, what makes us a good team. I think that puts us in a better position to be successful without him as opposed to where we were last year. Then obviously [Yaxel Lendeborg], having a guy you can give the ball to and he can create an advantage. [Brandin Podziemski] is playing a lot better. ... It puts us in a better position.”
Curry was due to get an MRI on the injury. “Concern is high,” Kerr said. “But I have no idea the extent.”