Sports Out West West Coast sports news, scores & analysis — with a national perspective. The Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers mixed it up on Tuesday night after Warriors forward David Lee and Pacers center Roy Hibbert got into a shoving match in the paint. The first person to his teammate’s defense was 6’3″ point guard Stephen Curry.
Curry took on the 7’2″ Hibbert and tried to pull him away but quickly got tossed to the ground. Curry, like the competitor he is got right back up only to get knocked down again. By then, the chaos on the floor was too much to sort out. Lee, who tried to walk away, gave Curry a pat on the head of respect as the teams finally separated.
So what was Curry’s take on the matter?
“Teams are gearing up for playoff basketball and amping up the intensity a little bit and it’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s healthy just to not back down and be physical. You don’t like to see that tussle happen in the game, but for the most part it was a good clean, physical game that we have to expect for the rest of the year.”
The Warriors are having their best season in recent memory and currently sit in second place in the NBA’s Pacific Division at 33-24 and hold the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoff picture. They’ve stumbled of late, but have generally thrived under the leadership of Curry and David Lee. The point guard is averaging a career-high in points (21.3 ppg) and assists (6.5 apg) and narrowly missed representing the West in the 2013 All-Star Game.
Poor Curry got knocked down twice! So sad.