Before the Warriors lost Game 4, Gary Payton II lost his lunch.
The Lakers handed Payton and Golden State another setback Monday, but something curious happened early in the first quarter. Payton removed himself from the game and headed to the locker room after seemingly signaling to the bench to call a timeout, but he didn't seem to be in any noticeable distress.
There may be an explanation for what happened; A viewer pointed out that Payton may have thrown up in his mouth, just without the throwing-up part. Payton seemed to blow chunks and kept the vomit in his mouth during the game.
That's a really impressive feat from Payton, considering he seemingly played the entire defensive possession with vomit in his mouth.
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Hilarity ensued: After Payton headed to the locker room, Draymond Green threw a pass to the Lakers bench, thinking that Payton was on his elbow. (He was not.)
After a quick visit to the locker room, Payton later returned to the game. Following the loss, he was pretty quick to dismiss what happened, without offering an explanation when asked about the situation:
"Yeah, I'm good," Payton said with a laugh. "I'm good."
To his point, Payton was good: He finished the game 7-of-9 shooting for 15 points in 23 minutes of game action, helping spur an 11-0 run for the Warriors in the third quarter. Ultimately, it wasn't enough to help stave off the Lakers' 104-101 win.
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Viewers thought maybe Payton's unfortunate situation was a No. 2 instead, and likened the situation to Paul Pierce heading to the locker room on a wheelchair in the 2008 NBA Finals.
This is probably the one time that Steve Kerr is glad not everyone was communicating on defense.