MEMPHIS, Tennessee: Stephen Curry had a game like none other in his career. It was part of an awful night for the Golden State Warriors.
Curry didn’t make a shot from the field in his 24 minutes — the first time he’s played that many minutes without a basket in his 16-year career — and the Warriors fell behind by 57 points in what became a 144-93 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night.
“We ran into a buzz saw,” Curry said. “We obviously know we are better than that. I’ve got to be better than that.”
The 51-point final margin and 57-point deficit were both the largest in the NBA this season.
“You lose by 51, that’s humbling,” coach Steve Kerr said after his team, which started the season 12-3, lost for the ninth time in its last 11 games.
Curry was 0 for 7, missing all six of his tries from 3-point range. It was only the fifth time in Curry’s career that he’d taken a shot in a game and not registered a field goal — he was 0 for 1 once, 0 for 2 once, 0 for 3 once and 0 for 4 once.
“He’s one of the toughest covers in the history of the NBA,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said.
Not on Thursday, however.
“That was embarrassing,” Curry said.
It was only the fifth time in Warriors history that they lost a regular-season game by more than 50 points. Of those, three have come in the last five years — by 53 to Toronto at Tampa, Florida in 2021, by 52 at Boston on March 3 and Thursday’s 51-point loss.
The franchise regular-season record is a 63-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972. The Philadelphia Warriors lost by 51 at Boston in 1962.
“It wasn’t any of our nights,” Kerr said. “Including mine.”
Curry and Draymond Green had never combined for zero field goals in a game in which both played, until Thursday.
“There’s a first time for everything, right?” Curry said.
Brandin Podziemski and Andrew Wiggins combined to make 15 of their 24 shots for Golden State. The rest of the Warriors shot 17 of 66 — 25.8 percent — with Dennis Schroder going 2 for 12 in his Golden State debut. Jonathan Kuminga also shot 2 of 12.
The Warriors have now trailed at least one game by 45 points in each of the last six seasons.
“Once we’re all locked in defensively, you see what type of team we can be,” Grizzlies guard Ja Morant said.
The Grizzlies now have the two biggest victory margins in the NBA this season. They beat Portland by 45 on Nov. 10.
Memphis also led Golden State by 55 in Game 5 of the 2022 Western Conference semifinals, ultimately winning that game by 39 points. The Warriors went on to win that series in six games and eventually won that season’s NBA title.
“I know who we are. I know what our team is about,” Kerr said. “I know we’ve got competitors, and I know we’re going to bounce back and we’re going to regroup. So, I’m not concerned about that. But we’ve got a lot of work to do to execute and learn how to execute under pressure and take care of the ball and get good shots.”
An ‘embarrassing’ night for Stephen Curry and the Warriors, who fall by 51 at Memphis
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An ‘embarrassing’ night for Stephen Curry and the Warriors, who fall by 51 at Memphis
- Stephen Curry did not make a shot from the field in his 24 minutes against the Memphis Grizzlies
- It was the first time he has played that many minutes without a basket in his 16-year career
Terrific Terrier backheel helps lift Leverkusen back to fourth
- The 2023-24 champions had lost their previous two Bundesliga matches and dropped to sixth
- Terrier’s no-look backheel and captain Robert Andrich’s header ensured Leverkusen will end the weekend in the Champions League places
BERLIN: A backheeled goal from Martin Terrier set Bayer Leverkusen on the way to a 2-0 win over derby rivals Cologne on Saturday, returning the hosts to fourth in the Bundesliga.
The 2023-24 champions had lost their previous two Bundesliga matches and dropped to sixth after Hoffenheim and Eintracht Frankfurt won earlier on Saturday.
But Terrier’s no-look backheel and captain Robert Andrich’s header ensured Leverkusen will end the weekend in the Champions League places.
“This win was a must,” sporting director Simon Rolfes told Sky Germany.
“When you lose two Bundesliga games in a row, you have to win the next one, not just because it’s the derby, but for the standings.”
The derby between the Rhine neighbors had an uneasy atmosphere. Hundreds of ultras from both sides boycotted the match, with a Cologne fan group complaining of “inappropriate” and “very intense” police checks, according to German sports magazine Kicker.
Just after halftime, Malik Tillman had a golden chance to put Leverkusen in front when one-on-one with Cologne goalkeeper Marvin Schwaebe but blasted over the bar.
The hosts broke through in spectacular fashion when Terrier somehow connected with a misplaced pass, looping it over the goalkeeper on 66 minutes.
Andrich’s header six minutes later gave Leverkusen breathing space.
- Frankfurt ‘lack freshness’ -
Earlier on Saturday, a brilliant solo goal from Ritsu Doan gave Frankfurt a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to Augsburg.
Victory moved Frankfurt, who have struggled to manage domestic and European commitments this season in just their second Champions League campaign, up to sixth.
“You can see we lack a bit of freshness,” Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmoeller told reporters, adding: “The last six months have been very stressful.
“Today’s performance was one driven by great willpower.”
Augsburg had two strikes chalked off by VAR early against a shaky Frankfurt defense who had conceded 15 goals in their past five games.
Midway through the second-half, Japan international Doan weaved through four Augsburg defenders before hitting a deflected shot past Finn Dahmen.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim stayed fifth thanks to a commanding 4-1 home win over Hamburg, their sixth victory in their past eight league games.
Grischa Proemel, Ozan Kabak, Tim Lemperle and Fisnik Asllani scored for Hoffenheim, while Hamburg’s Rayan Philippe notched a late consolation goal before missing a stoppage time penalty.
Christian Eriksen sparked Wolfsburg to a 3-1 win away at Borussia Moenchengladbach to continue the Wolves’ recent resurgence.
Dangling near the relegation spots for much of the season, Wolfsburg have claimed seven points in their last three matches to climb to 13th.
St. Pauli claimed a first win since September, 2-1 at home to Heidenheim despite going down to 10 men just before halftime.
