Steph Curry injury endangers Warriors’ title dreams

Sports


The Golden State Warriors were already struggling to repeat as NBA champions. Without their MVP, that effort might be doomed.

Curry got hurt when Dorian Finney-Smith bumped knees with him during the Warriors’ win over the Mavericks. He immediately exited the game and got X-rays in the locker room.

The lateral contact to the knee was already worrisome, but Curry was already nursing a sore left knee after he got hit on a three-point attempt against the Nuggets Thursday. He was playing with extra padding when he took the hit Saturday.

Golden State was beginning a favorable stretch of the schedule which had them playing twelve straight games on the West Coast, and eight at home. That’s huge for a 7th place team that’s just 7-20 on the road this season. Now they’ll likely be without Curry for all of it, and perhaps longer. The only fortunate part is that the whole league will take a week off for the All-Star break, while Curry rehabs.

Earlier this year, Curry missed nearly four weeks with a shoulder injury, and the team went 6-5 in his absence, also in a home-heavy stretch of schedule – they had an eight-game homestand. Last year, Curry got hurt with 12 games to go, and the Warriors went 1-5 in the immediate aftermath. However, they closed with five straight wins to secure the three seed, and Curry eventually won Finals MVP.

There are some differences. Last year’s Warriors had a deep bench of capable veterans like Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II. This year, the bench has five players 21 and younger, a non-playing Andre Iguodala, and leans heavily on two-way players Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome.

The biggest factor is Jordan Poole, who has slumped in his fourth season after signing a big-money extension. He’s turning the ball over 3.4 times per game, and while he’s upped his scoring to 20.5 points per game, and his three-point shooting slipped to 32.4 percent.

Golden State is only a game ahead of the 11th-place Portland Trail Blazers. Without Curry – and with just four days to restock the team before the trade deadline – they may not make the playoffs, much less repeat as champions.





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