The internet is on it.
The Golden State Warriors probably feel like their season is on the line in Game 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs. The defending champion Warriors trail LA 2-1 in the series, and the list of teams who have successfully wiped away a 3-1 deficit isn’t that long — though it does include the Warriors, who famously did it in the 2016 Western Conference Finals.
The Warriors are as battle team as any team in recent memory, but you can’t blame some of the players if they have nerves. Maybe that’s what happened to Gary Payton II when the Golden State guard walked off the court after a defensive possession because he maybe puked in his mouth and had to let it out.
Fans watching the game were wondering why Payton just walked off the floor and made the Warriors play 4-on-5 on the next possession, which ended in an ugly Draymond Green turnover. The poster made the case that Payton appeared to play an entire defensive possession with vomit in his mouth. Here’s the video:
What happened to the Warriors on the next possession is almost as unbelievable. Maybe Green didn’t know that Payton ran off the court. Maybe he just had a brain fart. Either way, Draymond Green, genius court mapper, fired a pass to absolutely no one because his. team only had four guys playing offense.
Watch the vide of the next offensive possession here.
Payton still had plenty of time to get back down the court, but never made it. If he really is sick, remember that the Warriors kept Kevon Looney out of Game 2 with an illness.
We’ll update this story as it develops.