HOUSTON — With 8:20 remaining in the first quarter, Stephen Curry launched a 3-pointer with the Houston Rockets‘ Alperen Sengun and Dillon Brooks flying at him.
Brooks’ right arm made contact with Curry’s right hand and injured thumb after the release of the shot. But no foul was called, leading an exasperated Curry to repeatedly make a swiping down motion with his right arm to the officials. Moments later, Steve Kerr pleaded with officials as well.
Following the Rockets’ 131-116 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 at the Toyota Center, Curry, Kerr and the Warriors were asked if Brooks and the Rockets were trying to purposely hit Curry’s injured right thumb after he shoots — a move that is actually allowed by NBA rules, as long as the contact is made after the shot is released.
The Warriors did not broach the topic, but reporters repeatedly asked them about it after a Golden State broadcaster pointed out the Rockets had targeted Curry’s thumb a few times in Games 4 and 5.
“You don’t think about it,” said Curry, who had 13 points and seven assists in 23 minutes Wednesday night. “And if it’s a foul, they should call it.”
Curry first suffered the injury to his thumb in January and said every time it started to get better, it would get hit again. The thumb got better, but he then reinjured it in the second-to-last game of the regular season.
Curry has played with a wrap around the thumb and has been icing it after games and getting treatment. He said it is not impacting how he plays.
“It is something I am dealing with,” he said.
Warriors power forward Draymond Green, when asked about the Rockets hitting Curry’s thumb, said it was something he noticed, too.
“I think it’s pretty obvious, but it is what it is,” he said. “I’m not one to come to cry to you about what the league should do.”
Kerr would not blame players for trying to take any advantage that they can within the rules. But he said the league needs to adjust the rule next season.
“So the rule is once the shot has been released, you’re allowed to hit a guy’s arm,” Kerr said. “And so what’s happened in the league this year is, players always are, they’re going to outsmart the rules. They know what they’re doing. So players all over the league are just taking shots at guys’ shooting hands after the release because they know it’s not going to be a foul. And I’m very confident that next year the league will fix it because it’s only a matter of time before somebody breaks a thumb or breaks a hand or whatever. But these are the rules.
“I do believe they’re allowed to call a flagrant if they want. The refs can call flagrant if a guy winds up and takes a shot. But no, it’s been happening across the league all year long. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, but we have to take it through the league process to get that changed.”
Brooks scoffed when told what the Golden State broadcast was saying about him hitting Curry’s thumb after the release, saying, “I’ve been playing the game.”
“If [someone] had an injured ankle, I would attack that ankle every single time,” Brooks said. “So, whatever they’re saying on the broadcast, they can keep saying it.”
Curry has shot 10-for-25 overall, including 5-for-17 from behind the 3-point arc, in the past two games. He has been held to a combined 30 points in that span since scoring 36 and making 5-for-13 3-pointers in Game 3.
Game 5, though, got out of hand as Houston led by as much as 30 in the second quarter before Kerr pulled his starters with 5:50 remaining in the third. Curry had more issues with Amen Thompson‘s smothering defense. Thompson had all five of his steals in the first half.
“No, I don’t think it’s impacting him,” Kerr said of Curry’s thumb. “It’s just players are going to do whatever they’re allowed to do. So on every release Steph’s getting hit, but it’s basically within the rules. So that’s how the league wants it right now, and I know we got 30 coaches who all think it’s just idiotic that we allow this, so we’ll have to take it through the competition committee, all that stuff this summer and eventually we’ll get it fixed.”
Although they trailed by as much as 31 in a close-out game, the Warriors aren’t panicking. They were in a similar predicament during their 2022 title run when they led 3-1 in the second round against the Memphis Grizzlies and were lost 134-95 in Game 5 at Memphis. The Warriors trailed by 55 in the third quarter of that game, when the arena played the song “Whoop that Trick!” as has become tradition in stirring Grizzlies home wins. Green famously danced along and waved a towel despite his team being down big.
The Warriors closed out the Grizzlies in Game 6 and went on to win their fourth championship of the Curry era.
“You kind of seen everything. They weren’t playing ‘Whoop that Trick,’ but they may as well have,” Green said of the Rockets on Wednesday. “But yeah, at this point in our careers, we’ve seen it all, had all the experiences. So you got something to draw back on. Yeah, they played a good game. Whether they win by one or 50, it’s a playoff series. It counts as one win.”
Green, who could be seen talking adjustments with assistant coaches and Jimmy Butler on the sideline during the game, said the Warriors “turned the page quick.”
Kerr said he would lean on the championship experience that he, Curry and Green have together. And he cited how Butler has experience rebounding from a lost opportunity to close out a team in a playoff series as well.
“Our guys have been here many times,” Kerr said. “Jimmy’s been here many times. I think a couple of years ago [in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals], Jimmy was part of that Miami team that was up 3-0 against Boston, lost the next three, and then had to win on the road in Game 7. This is what the playoffs are about.”
Butler said he and the Warriors will be ready for Game 6 on Friday at Chase Center.
“We’re fine,” Butler said. “Our confidence isn’t going to waver any.”
ESPN’s Michael C. Wright contributed to this report.
