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Smart ejected for punching Bassey as Warriors lose Curry to injury in defeat to Rockets

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Cite

sport, G. (2026, November 12). Smart ejected for punching Bassey as Warriors lose Curry to injury in defeat to Rockets. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/nov/12/marcus-smart-punch-stephen-curry-injury-rockets-warriors-nba

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The Guardian · collected 2026-11-12 · by Guardian sport

Quick Summary

The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors 115-108 on Wednesday night, snapping the Warriors' eight-game winning streak while they played without Stephen Curry. Curry exited the game in the first quarter with abdominal soreness, and the Warriors were held below their season average of 120.4 points despite Kevin Durant scoring 20 for Houston and Yaxel Lendeborg providing 25 for Golden State. The report highlights the late-game ejection of Marcus Smart for punching Charles Bassey, an incident Bassey described as "fake toughness."
Written by AI on 2026-11-13, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).
See how they differ ↓

AI analysis

Story summary

The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors with a score of 115-108 on Wednesday night, ending the Warriors' eight-game winning streak. The Warriors played most of the contest without superstar Stephen Curry, who exited in the first quarter due to right abdominal soreness and was scheduled for an MRI. Despite the absence of Curry, who averaged 30.6 points per game, the Warriors were led by rookie Yaxel Lendeborg with 25 points and 10 rebounds. For the Rockets, Kevin Durant contributed 20 points, while Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson each added 19 points. The game was marked by a significant disciplinary incident in the third quarter when Rockets guard Marcus Smart was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul after punching Warriors center Charles Bassey in the nose. On Thursday, the NBA suspended Smart without pay for a three-game ban, which will cause him to miss matchups against the Utah Jazz, Washington, and Miami before his return on November 18. The Warriors enter the next stretch with a record of 8-4, despite a roster thinned by injuries to Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody, and Kristaps Porziņģis.

Written for “Marcus Smart's 3-game ban” on 2026-11-14, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

How they differ

3 outlets covered “Marcus Smart's 3-game ban”.

What each outlet says

One AI summary per outlet of its latest article on this story, written from that article alone and checked against it. Open the article for the outlet's own words.

The GuardianThis outlet12 Nov

The Houston Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors 115-108 on Wednesday night, snapping the Warriors' eight-game winning streak while they played without Stephen Curry. Curry exited the game in the first quarter with abdominal soreness, and the Warriors were held below their season average of 120.4 points despite Kevin Durant scoring 20 for Houston and Yaxel Lendeborg providing 25 for Golden State. The report…

Smart ejected for punching Bassey as Warriors lose Curry to injury in defeat to Rockets (this article)
Toronto Star12 Nov

The Houston Rockets ended the Golden State Warriors' eight-game winning streak with a 115-108 victory in an NBA game on Wednesday. Stephen Curry left early for the Warriors due to right abdominal soreness, limiting their scoring potential below their season average of 120.4 points per game. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg led Golden State with 25 points and 10 rebounds while Brandin Podziemski added 22; however, Houston's…

Rockets beat Warriors 115-108 to end Golden State’s 8-game winning streak after Curry's early exit →
Fox News13 Nov

The NBA suspended Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart for three games without pay after he threw a right hook that grazed Golden State Warriors center Charles Bassey during a game on Thursday. Smart was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and his 13th career ejection after the incident, which occurred during a 115-108 Rockets victory. While Smart claimed Bassey provoked him by grabbing his injured elbow, Bassey admitted to…

Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart handed 3-game ban after swinging at Warriors center Charles Bassey →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 3% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Toronto Star
Hedges 1 of 16 claims Outlet record 64/100
Fox News
Hedges 0 of 14 claims Outlet record 67/100
“While both articles discuss Stephen Curry's injury, Article A focuses on the announcement of the severity of the injury, while Article B covers the game's outcome and Curry's absence due to the injury, indicating different points in time.”

Story

Marcus Smart's 3-game ban
Sports · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↑
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
36
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
3%
1 of 36 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
65/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 2398 article(s) · 7 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 7 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Guardian sport
40 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
Standing there, outside what felt like an open-air prison, all I could think about was getting in to help,” he said in the post.
“Anytime Ayesha Curry shows up in your headline, I kindly suggest you just give the happy hands, congratulations, and maybe, just maybe, the apology can be as loud as y’all leading your shows with this topic.
The Raiders, who sit at 4-5, will throw the rookie straight into the deep end, with his first two scheduled NFL starts coming against two of the league’s toughest defenses in Seattle and Denver.
Dianna Russini will return to sports media with a weekly one-hour show focused on the NFL backed by offshore sportsbook BetUS, she announced Monday.
They will face Austria in another group-stage contest in Esbjerg on Monday.
The bottom two will play a relegation game.
In May, he signed a four-year contract extension with the Lions worth $81m.
Former World Series champion turned Republican politician Mark Teixeira will represent Texas’s 21st Congressional District in Washington after defeating Democrat Kristin Hook in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“Preliminary indications are positive and out of respect for Jack and his family we will not share further information at this time.”
I don’t really know what happened but I couldn’t be happier right now.”
Also by Guardian sport
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 40 articles by Guardian sport →

Topics

Flagrant 2 Golden State’s Houston Warriors the Houston Rockets

Subjects

Warriors ORG · 6× Curry PERSON · 5× Bassey PERSON · 3× Golden State’s ORG · 3× Smart PERSON · 3× Brandin Podziemski PERSON · 2× Alperen Sengun PERSON · 1× Amen Thompson PERSON · 1× Kevin Durant PERSON · 1× the Houston Rockets ORG · 1×

Narrative

Even before Curry’s injury, Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody were missing with knee injuries while center Kristaps Porziņģis stepped away from basketball entirely over an undisclosed health issue.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-13

Claims (36 extracted, 1 hedged)

Kevin Durant scored 20 points, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson added 19 and the Houston Rockets snapped Golden State’s eight-game winning streak with a 115-108 victory on Wednesday night. asserted
Rockets → score → night
The Warriors played most of the game without Stephen Curry after the star left in the first quarter with right abdominal soreness and didn’t return. asserted
star → play → soreness
He was due to get an MRI on the injury. asserted
He → get → injury
After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted he was worried about the injury. asserted
he → admit → injury
“Concern is high,” Kerr said. asserted
Kerr → say → ?
“But I have no idea the extent.” asserted
I → have → idea
Even before Curry’s injury, Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody were missing with knee injuries while center Kristaps Porziņģis stepped away from basketball entirely over an undisclosed health issue. asserted
Porziņģis → miss → issue
Curry missed significant time last season, during which the Warriors struggled badly. asserted
Warriors → miss → which
But his fellow veteran Draymond Green believes the team can better absorb his absence this season. asserted
team → believe → absence
“The spirit of this team is better,” Green said after Wednesday’s game. asserted
Green → say → game
“We’re more certain of who we are, what makes us a good team. asserted
us → ’re → ?
I think that puts us in a better position to be successful without him as opposed to where we were last year. asserted
we → think → him
Then obviously [Yaxel Lendeborg], having a guy you can give the ball to and he can create an advantage. asserted
he → have → advantage
[Brandin Podziemski] is playing a lot better. ... asserted
Podziemski → play → ?
It puts us in a better position.” asserted
It → put → position
Houston’s Marcus Smart was ejected late in the third quarter for punching Golden State’s Charles Bassey. asserted
Smart → eject → Bassey
It was unclear what started the altercation between the two, but Smart threw a punch that appeared to lightly strike Bassey’s nose. uncertain
that → start → nose
Smart was immediately pushed away by two other Warriors and an official grabbed Bassey around the waist and pulled him away. asserted
official → push → him
Smart didn’t wait for the officials to eject him, heading straight to the locker room after he was pulled away. asserted
he → wait → room
The play was reviewed and he was issued a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected before play resumed. asserted
play → review → foul
“I remember the first half, I was trying to set a screen [and] he grabbed my knee. asserted
he → remember → knee
He was playing dirty,” Bassey said after the game. asserted
Bassey → play → game
“I think I was trying to get a rebound. asserted
I → think → rebound
He was grabbing my hand, and I was trying to run back on defense. asserted
I → grab → defense
Then he got up on me and just swung. asserted
he → get → me
I just think that was, honestly, fake toughness. asserted
that → think → ?
“It didn’t surprise me. asserted
It → surprise → me
I knew he was going to do something. asserted
he → know → something
I don’t think he was trying to play. asserted
he → think → ?
I think he was trying to get himself out of the game. asserted
he → think → game
I think he was trying to chill. asserted
he → think → ?
He wasn’t trying to hoop. asserted
He → try → ?
Golden State’s longest winning streak since 2022 ended on a night they were held well below their season average of 120.4 points a game. asserted
they → end → points
Curry, who entered Wednesday ranked second in the NBA by averaging 30.6 points a game, had just three points before exiting. asserted
who → enter → points
With Curry out, the Warriors were led by Lendeborg, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds. asserted
who → lead → points
Brandin Podziemski added 22 points. asserted
Podziemski → add → points
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