The Golden State Warriors found yet another way to lose a basketball game on Wednesday night, when they dropped their final Emirates Cup game of the year to the Houston Rockets 104-100. And while the game was more competitive, entertaining, and encouraging than the bulk of their frustrating losses this year, it was perhaps their worst defeat for one primary reason: Steph Curry was injured.
Let’s start there before we circle back to how a lead was built and blown. Curry got banged up repeatedly through
the game, which was as physical as we’ve come to expect from a matchup between these two teams. Most notably, though, were two plays late in the fourth quarter: one when he collided with Amen Thompson, who proceeded to fall on Curry, and one where Alperen Șengün collided with his legs while diving for a loose ball. Curry was hobbling after each play, and his limp got more noticeable with every passing moment. After the game, the team announced that he had a right quad contusion, and will get an MRI.
It’s impossible to speculate on the severity of the injury. If you’re a glass half full person, it’s a good sign that Curry stayed in the game after each collision, deeming himself fit — and able — to play despite being compromised. If half-full glasses are more your thing, it was deeply concerning that Curry eventually waved the white flag and booked a one-way ticket to the locker room with 35 seconds remaining … and the game still very much hanging in the balance. Now we play the waiting game, to see which of those glasses contains the truth, and we cross our fingers that it’s the half-full one. The Dubs have been fairly awful with Curry not on the court this season, and nothing about their recent performances suggests that a change is coming in that regard. So even with their schedule lightening up at long last, they could be in a lot of trouble if they have to play without Curry for an extended period of time.
But that’s a problem for a future day. Saturday, in all likelihood. For now, let’s get back to what transpired in this game.
The game started off well, with the Warriors jumping out to an early lead over a Rockets team that was playing without Kevin Durant and Steven Adams. The team’s first points of the game came on a pair of threes by Jimmy Butler III and, after Draymond Green and Will Richard each added one, the Dubs had shot a perfect 4-for-4 from distance. It was a quarter that greatly emphasized Curry’s impact and importance: the offense was flowing beautifully and effortlessly thanks in large part to Curry, despite the fact that he nearly made it to the halfway mark before attempting a shot (a made layup that gave Golden State a 20-11 lead). Even though he wasn’t shooting often or scoring much, Curry was leading a spirited offensive charge, and when he took his seat on the bench the offense predictably fell all the way apart.
Houston quickly closed the gap behind a flurry of offensive rebounds (they had eight in the first quarter alone) and Golden State’s feckless offense. It was just a 25-22 advantage for the Warriors after the quarter.
They found a little bit more rhythm in the non-Steph minutes to open the second quarter, but they were still fairly sloppy. Jonathan Kuminga’s absence was certainly felt as the team had a hard time winning individual matchups, getting looks in the paint, and drawing free throws. Yet despite the struggles, they hung onto the lead for the whole quarter, also playing strong enough defense to keep the Rockets from fulling closing the gap. Finally, late in the quarter, the Warriors found the offense they were searching for, and whipped out a quick 10-0 run. A few minutes later, the half ended with a brilliant two-for one sequence: Butler scored, then the Rockets missed a three that was halfway down before popping out. In the scramble for the rebound, Houston tried to save the ball by throwing it off of Quinten Post, but he managed to corral it instead, and quickly send an outlet pass to Curry, who made a perfect pass to Green for a transition layup. The Warriors led 59-47 at the break, and things were looking fairly good.
Things continued to look good to start the second half, as the Warriors came out of the locker room with lots of energy. They pushed the lead to 14 points, and held it in that range for a while. But then it all came crashing down.
Houston had been searching for offense in Durant’s absence all night long, and finally found it from a slightly unlikely source: Reed Sheppard. The third overall pick in the 2024 draft had an underwhelming rookie campaign in which he averaged just 4.4 points per game, but lately has been coming into his own. He lit the nets on fire in the third quarter, en route to a career-high 31 points. And as Sheppard caught fire, so did his teammates. And as they all caught fire, the lead dissipated and dissipated, until finally it was gone entirely on a Sheppard jumper with about six seconds remaining in the quarter. The Warriors were still able to take a lead into the final frame, though, thanks to a difficult jumper by Post with 0.9 seconds remaining. It was a 76-74 lead entering the fourth, but the vibes were not good.
Things went from bad to worse quickly. Aaron Holiday sank a three on the first possession of the fourth quarter, giving Houston their very first lead of the game. With Curry on the bench, the offense was again non-existent, and Kuminga’s absence was once again felt. The deficit grew, and with about 9:30 remaining it turned into an eight-point game, courtesy of a 24-6 Rockets run that had spanned multiple quarters.
For as frustrating as the loss was, the Warriors didn’t go down easily. They responded with 7-0 run of their own, with Curry returning to the court during it. It was a team effort keeping them in the game on both sides of the court, with some especially strong minutes from Richard, who returned to the starting lineup after a brief hiatus. Richard had a pivotal offensive rebound and put-back that gave the team the lead with about five minutes remaining, but from there it was mostly downhill.
It was entertaining, though. The game took on a frantic and frenetic pace, full of transition opportunities, wild shots, bad turnovers, hard fouls, and hard non-fouls. But it all seemed to come down to one sequence, with the game tied at about the 3:30 mark of the fourth.
Thompson drove and collided with Curry, who was sliding over to take a charge. Curry wasn’t fully set as Thompson took flight for the rim, but the third-year wing extended his off-hand to create space, and pushed Curry to the court, before landing on him. Curry was shaken up (as was Thompson, who took an inadvertent Green hand to the face), but an offensive foul was called.
Rockets coach Ime Udoka challenged the call and, after extensive video review, the refs deemed that Curry was not set. With that seemingly overruling the illegally-extended arm — something the refs didn’t mention in their explanation — the call was overturned, and a blocking foul was issued. The ESPN broadcast team seemed as shocked and lost for explanation as most Warriors fans surely were.
Thompson sank both free throws to give Houston a two-point lead. On the ensuing Warriors possession, Brandin Podziemski was fouled, where he unfortunately cosplayed some of the infamous Nick Anderson scene. Podziemski missed both free throws very badly (each was extremely short), but on the second one, Șengün was whistled for a lane violation, and Podz was given a third free throw. You didn’t need to watch to know what would happen, as the most unnatural-looking shot I’ve ever seen him take was a solid brick. A few seconds later, Șengün drained a difficult jumper, pushing the lead to four and making Golden State’s fate feel sealed.
The Warriors stayed within fighting distance, and got the ball back down five with about 35 seconds remaining, which is when Curry — moving very gingerly — left the game. They made one last push, with a Moses Moody three cutting the margin to two points with 5.8 seconds remaining. But the Warriors were out of timeouts and Sheppard drained a pair of free throws, and that, as they say, was that.
