Curry said it was tough to start the game with Draymond’s ejection.

With the Houston Rockets suddenly getting hot with 10 straight wins, the Golden State Warriors are on the bubble as the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference, with their lead in the standings down to just one game. That made Wednesday’s game against the East’s surprise fifth-seed Orlando Magic a must-win for them.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, Draymond Green was ejected four minutes into the contest for non-stop complaining to the referees. Stephen Curry said it was tough to lose Dray to an ejection again, and tougher to lose him that early in the ball game.

“All I’ll say is we need him. He knows that. We all know that,” Curry said of Green. “So, whatever we need to do to keep him on the floor and be available, that’s what’s got to happen. Especially at this point in the year. It was a tough way to start the game.”

Curry came up big in the clutch

With Jonathan Kuminga out with a sore knee, the Warriors needed everybody to step up, including Dray. But instead of helping make up for Kuminga’s absence, the 34-year-old’s antics forced Golden State to finish the game without two of its key players. Thankfully, Curry came up big in the clutch after struggling to shoot all night.

Andrew Wiggins scored 13 of his 23 points in the final quarter, while Curry hit a driving hook with 1:09 left to play and a long-range dagger with 34 seconds left to give Golden State a 101-92 win over Orlando. The two-time MVP finished with just 17 points on 6 on 18 shooting in 35 minutes of playing time.

“We know how important this part of the season is in our ability to get into a rhythm and secure a play-in opportunity,” Curry added. “We don’t want to give ourselves self-inflicted wounds. We all care. We all are passionate about the game and our chances to have something to play for down the stretch. You give everything you’ve got to this game. That’s the emotion.”

Rockets upset OKC 

Golden State’s win turned out to be a huge one since the Rockets stunned the two-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in overtime. As it stands, the Dubs keep their one-game lead with 10 contests left to play.

Meanwhile, this was Dray’s fourth ejection of the season, the most since the 2017-18 campaign when KD got tossed five times—it also marked Green’s second first-quarter ejection of the season. While they got away with the win on Wednesday night, the Warriors can’t continue to walk the tightrope if they want to secure a playoff spot.

With the Rockets not going away, every game until the end of the regular season should be treated as a must-win. The Warriors know that all too well, including Green. But Draymond has to keep that in mind because he can’t continue to shoot himself in his foot for the team to be successful.