Since 2009, the year he entered the league, Steph Curry has led the Golden State Warriors to be the NBA’s model franchise. His ability to manipulate opposing defenses with his unlimited range and tireless motor, while also being an A+ teammate the entire time, has been his secret. And when Steph has had to miss time, it’s usually, and unsurprisingly, rough on the team.
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It’s even worse at this moment for the Warriors, whose second-best player, Jimmy Butler, is out for the season, too. And Steph missed his sixth straight game Thursday night with what the team is calling ‘runner’s knee.’ And predictably, the Warriors got whooped by the Celtics.
Boston at one point led the game by 34 points. A fourth-quarter Warriors run made the game seem closer than it was, but in the end, Golden State fell to just two games over .500. The Warriors said that Steph is going to be reevaluated in 10 days, which means they’re going to have to find a way to survive till then without him.
After the Celtics’ loss, Steve Kerr laid out what he believes they have to do to stay in the hunt. “We know we have to play fast,” he said. “We know we have to take care of the ball and crash and get second opportunities.”
The Warriors aren’t a big team, and without Steph handling the ball, they may have trouble holding on to it the way Kerr wants, too. They did win the turnover battle last night, 13-9. And they did a great job turning those turnovers into points, finishing with 25 points off turnovers compared to the Celtics’ 13.
They only scored 13 fast break points, though. They were also outrebounded by 14, despite the 7’2″ Kristaps Porzingis making his team debut.
Despite the lopsided loss, Kerr found some positives to take away from the result. He said he liked the way Porzingis, who scored 12 points in 17 minutes, looked. And he liked the way the Warriors closed.
“I felt like we were kind of slow to get moving,” said Kerr. “It was good to see the fight, and the rhythm we found late to at least make it respectable and find some momentum and rhythm for the next game, which is important.”
The schedule ahead is a tough one for the Warriors. They host the Nuggets on Sunday before embarking on a winnable two-game road trip against the Pelicans and the Jazz. After that, they face the Lakers and the Clippers at home before traveling to Houston and Oklahoma City.
The Warriors are currently eighth in the West, and they do have plenty of cushion to stay in the play-in tournament. The 11th-place Grizzlies are 7.5 games behind them, so free-falling to the lottery is unlikely.
However, if they were to fall below the Clippers or the Blazers (1.5 games and 2 games behind, respectively), they would then have to win two straight play-in games to make the playoffs.
The Warriors will need to do whatever they can to stay in the hunt without Steph. But if he can’t come back healthy, this will all be academic anyway. He’s the reason they have a puncher’s chance in the first place, so however long it takes for him to get right, that’s what needs to happen.
